You've definitely got your foot on the gas pedal these past couple weeks, HCR - to the benefit of all who read this site. Your talk with the president has energized you. Hopefully you also energized him.
Indeed! Biden is not perfect, as some here enjoy pointing out, but I truly believe that deep in his heart, he is a good man.
MAGA perceives good, honorable men as weak or flawed. I disagree. I find that self-control and self sacrifice are ideal characteristics of our leaders. I think the time has come for the majority of voters to say that they are done with childish, outrageous stunts.
And also for the naysayers to stop tossing the good while seeking the perfect.
Biden is a serious and well studied statesman in my opinion. Consider the tragedies in his family life from which he rebounded and held steady. He has the making of a solid leader and although his voice is soft, it is measured and steady. Compared to his competition, there is zero comparison. He is a President that wants our country to be united. How many times now has the Democratic Senate and the Executive office along with the Democratic minority in the House managed to move a fully non-functioning House of Representatives to make a deal and there was hope that we could move forward only to have the truly destructive caucus of radicals stop it all. Again. And again.
Miselle said it so well. No one is perfect but I seriously cannot find one redeeming trait in the leadership of the Republicans except those that lost their political careers because of their fellow MAGA component. We must support a President that has led us out of COVID and what could have been financial catastrophe. How short memories are indeed.
Biden has spent years interacting with thousands of people including politicians from both sides of the aisle. For many years, Biden took the train from Delaware to DC when he was a Senator and reports are that he often interacted with people on the train. HCR has interviewed Biden many times and I'm sure they both learned from each of those experiences.
One thing that Biden, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln all have in common is they all enjoyed interacting with all Americans. Roosevelt wrote over 150,000 letters and Lincoln personally answered many letters when he was President. I have no information on Biden's correspondence but we all know he is skilled at listening to others.
Trump doesn't interact with people -- he talks at them. Is there any other President who cared less about learning anything. He knows as little about Covid-19 today as the day he heard about the possibility of a pandemic in late 2019. He gives a terrible interview and his rallies are filled with sycophants that he pays to show up.
Gary, remember when he suggested using disinfectants to cleanse the body of covid?
"Talking at them" is the perfect description of his interaction with people.
Goading them, inciting them to violence, appealing to their racist and holier-than-thou attitudes, his garbled and disjointed messages encourage the mob mentality that caused the insurrection against the government. He talks AT them with words they love to hear:.
He is a spoiled adolescent brat who whines when he can't get his way, disparaging all who dare to disagree or threaten his hold on his followers.
His words would be the opposite of Lincoln's words quoted here by HCR.
What a shame that so many people are blinded by his unhinged fervor while "talking at them."
One of the things that Trump does offer the brainwashed cultists (and I do not get how they derive any meaning whatsoever from his word slaw messes of dangling sentences and random thoughts, but, whatever) is validation and justification for their own grievances and rage--not to mention drama and entertainment--all of which is sorely lacking in their own lives.
So true! I never knew there were so many angry, rage-filled people until he brought them to the forefront. They need someone to stoke their fears and anger; he needs someone to worship and bow down to him.
Pam, Many Republican politicians will only SAY they support trump but will not. Their fear is for their lives and their careers. Only MAGA support trump. Trump’s showing in Iowa and New Hampshire were laughable in my mind. He is out speaking more and more word salad. The rescumliCons are panicked.
My anger is geared at the fact that he has been established to be fully unqualified to take ANY office due to the deadly coup incitement. Yet we watch this 3 year old repulsive delay play out as danger continues.
I personally am supporting those who make advertisements about trump’s lunacy, using trump himself as the star of psycho world ramblings. Move On & Lincoln Project are doing a nice jobs with this.
President Biden and more importantly Joe Biden the human, truly and seriously cares about all Americans. He also embodies the trait seldom pointed out, he listens. dt is on transmit 100%. He probably does not even receive, period, except for the adoring rubbish from those who have no knowledge of our laws, our history, our very constitution and nor does that mob desire to try to learn real facts.
Your comment Pat reminds me of when Priebus was his babysitter and had to make sure that TFFG didn't see any negative press. I agree that facts are of no consequence to the MAGA mob or the white faux-Christian Nationalists.
I was at a Delaware football game a few years ago, when Biden was VP. Shortly before halftime, the various Deans and administrators sitting near began checking their phones and saying to each other "He'll be here after halftime."
He (Biden) arrived just before halftime. He seemed to know everyone the in the stadium by name. At one point he leaned over the railing (we were in the front row of the bleachers) and called out the the sound man by name from the cable station televising the game and chatted with him for a few moments.
At one point, a young man stopped by while Biden was in a conversation with one of the university administrators. Biden paused and asked what he could do for the man. The man asked if he could get a photo with his girlfriend and Biden. Biden told him he was in the middle of something and that it would be a little while before he do the photo and the man left. When the conversation was over, Biden called one of his Secret Service men over and asked them to get the young man and his girlfriend. (He referred to the young man by name.). The Secret Service man returned with the young man and his girlfriend; photos were taken; and Biden left a few moments later.
He could easily have "forgotten" about the photos and left after his conversation with the administrators, but he didn't. He's a genuinely good person who thinks of others. I will proudly vote for him in November.
Gary, we are in a different age of correspondence; when I write to him on Whitehouse.gov I always get a satisfactory response, from him/his people. We are given that opportunity for the free flow of ideas through technology.
Trump gives interviews? More likes he gets his exercise by walking out just as he did at one of his trials (and then complained that he didn't get to testify).
They "buy" the snake oil peddler's wares, in part, because they want to believe it, on the one hand, and they don't have the critical thinking skills necessary to test the hypothesis. Fast forward, MAGA/KKK folks buy TFFG'S spiel, IMO, because he is selling them something that they opine for - white Protestant supremacy. This is what brings together the evangelicals and the racists, IMO.
As someone said on MSNBC early this morning, we are living in a post-truth world. Heather has told US how and why. We have to claw our way out and back to truth FAST. Every time I hear it said that Ukraine might accept leaving some of her territory in Russian hands, I quiver because it means that leaving any part of Russian power in Ukrainian land is beyond preposterous in a NATO world, which is essential to Europe.
D4N, and the enthralled will part with their last pennies to buy a bottle (or more!) of “elixir of dreams to be” woven by the words of the spell-caster.
Would the people who voted for TFFG who changed their mind please stand up. Stand up and explain what attracted them ,what changed their mind . There are influential ,very rich people behind the scenes ( some backers not so hidden) ..are they not aware of the frequent underside of the bus syndrome, not aware of his dismal track record, or is some shiny objective the real goal and we/Trump just pons in the plan?
The standout consistency is lying ...humungous amounts -still ongoing!
The facts though, statistical data easily accessed, printed , broadcast, seldom get above the din danger . The stinking snake oil still sells.
Cults are strange phenomena , that analogy keeps circling about this circus cacophony and major ingredient of Poison Pie #2025
He *IS* a solid leader! People keep damning him with faint praise as if they don't know what the Biden administration has achieved in the last three years, and against daunting odds. People seem to conflate leadership with charisma. Some individuals do have both, but plenty have one without the other.
So many people complain about his age and it feels like they are covering for something else that they can’t even acknowledge 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️ seriously worried about his age of all things. I DON’T GET IT!!
I love your comment about how "it feels like they are covering for something else that they can't even acknowledge" -- because you've pinpointed what's been bugging me and I couldn't even name it. Are they afraid he's going to die in office? Presidents much younger than he have died in office and the country survived. Are they afraid he's going to die in office *and then Kamala Harris, a woman of color, will be president*? I've got a hunch that's at least part of it -- and that they can't admit out loud how racist and sexist that makes them sound. Because it *is* racist and sexist.
Read an interesting article in WAPO on black men (not women) and disappointment with Biden, something like What has Biden done for Me? Left me very confused and with many questions. Definitely something to address. I need to reread it.
Ask yourself why WaPo is running that sort of article. Ask yourself why "What has Biden done for me?" is set up as the make me/break me question. It's a fine question to ask of one's congressional representatives and one's state legislators, but is it the most important question to ask of the U.S. president at this point in our history?
We have to have our antennas on for the propaganda. In 2016 (or I guess it was 2020?) the Russians really went after the black vote with their cyberwarfare.
“ As RAND Senior Behavioral Scientist Todd Helmus explained on Ep28 of RadPod:
“Russia, in 2016, 2018, 2020, they’re targeting both the left and the right. The interesting approach about what Russia does is they take people’s views and make them more extreme. They want conservatives to not just be conservatives - they want them to hate immigrants. They don’t want African Americans to just be suspicious in how the Western world engages with them, they want them to be isolationist and militaristic. They wanted to turn Hillary Clinton supporters into Bernie supporters. Whatever position they’re in, they want them further away. The whole goal of that - and they definitely supported Trump over Clinton, was clear - they want to make Americans hate each other.”
I can’t make it any more clear - we are being psyoped daily toward extremism, toward extreme hatred for one another. As I noted in my report on the Ionov indictment, which showed Russia paying both left and right groups for more than a decade to cause chaos and destabilization, to destroy us from within, there are no rear areas in an information war. It is cheap and those causing the harms are easily purchasable.”
So very true! No one is perfect but Biden is a God-send if you want my opinion and I have no description what so ever of the Republic front runner or their policy or politics at this point in time.
I agree. He is slow and steady. His life experiences have made him strong in a way that he uses to lead this country. We have to respect his way of being as it has done VERY well for us. Many complain he is to slow, however we cannot overlook his many accomplishments and how great we are doing on so many levels.
“Having ever regarded Government as their deadliest bane,” Lincoln said, “they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operations; and pray for nothing so much as its total annihilation.”
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Reagan
I've always been repulsed by Reagan's line, though it did apply in my mind to the many who meant well but couldn't grasp the real long term needs (or opportunities to improve), of the people they thought needed help.
I have huge respect for people like the honest agent county agricultural agents, and the land grant colleges inspired by Lincoln. They listened and observed the current and longer term trends to learn and help figure out how to actually help people.
My grandfather was one such honest agent as a dairyman, milk inspector and eventual Chief Milk Inspector for Massachusetts, inspecting dairies and milk processing plants that sold milk to Massachusetts. He worked with many small farmers (instead of being a "gotcha" inspector just looking for fines to gather revenue), and helped them cost effectively modernize without being tricked into buying far more expensive equipment poorly suited to the size of their operations.
He was a moderate Republican who worked with everyone, and passed on a bit of his view of the weaknesses of both parties we had to watch out for (back through the last century), in a pretty simple example. He said roughly:
"If a man is being washed down a river towards a waterfall and is 50 feet from the shore, a Democrat will throw him a 100 foot rope but let go of his end, a Republican would throw him a 25 foot rope and tell him to swimming the other 25 feet to get to the rope will do him good."
That was the old Republican party, the new one puts barbed wire on the shore.
JL, what I find ironic is the notion that Trump, DeSantis, Abbott (and Paxton), ETC. (Including the likes of Reagan) think/thought of government “as their deadliest bane,” yet strive to be The Government, in their “happiest vain.”
Reagamism was never about eliminating "government" per se, but rather radically changing who government is by, and who it it for; plutocracy over egalitarianism.
He is running in the 3rd district again, while Boebert is switching to the more conservative 4th. Fortunately, she has a lot of competition on the GOP side
Miselle, Lincoln wasn't "perfect" either. He wasn't progressive enough for some and was too progressive for others. Were there any perfect answers then? Are there now? How could Lincoln save the union while bringing freedom and full equality to African Americans, especially within the U.S. Constitution, which says states control their elections? IMO, Biden is a pretty darn good president!
Reality Tv entertainment has dumbed-down America better than plain old ignorance. Attracting people to bull Schitt, instead of things that would stimulate and not rot their brains. Still hate CBS for Survivor, and Andy Cohen for, well, more than a few idiotic endeavors.
And makes me heave many times a day. Don't think the younger generation has a clue how noxious the current reality is to those who remember 15 second commercials.
If we think that’s bad, there are generations coming up that now carry that entertainment with them 24/7 and the content is far more mind numbing then ever. It’s an addiction. Everyone is doing it. 😳
I'm old, hope to not see the worst of it. I'm of the generation that loved Bill Moyers. He was politically savvy, loved literature, and oozed intelligence and common sense. Long gone, I fear.
Also under appreciated because so many Americans don’t realize how pervasive and effective the propaganda is from Putin/Koch/GOP and rely on corporate funded media rather than seeking the truth tellers
And it’s harder to find. Plenty of corporate media journalists that have good ethical standards, seems likes it’s the higher ups, (editors and producers and owners?) that produce the 💩?
The author of Grant, Ron Chernow, who wrote of President Grant seeing the gradual destruction of Reconstruction, figures Lincoln would have been beset with the same intractable issues of the South's Non acceptance of racial equality, and the North's mixed attitudes pro and con.
You may find this less "inspiring" but very interesting from a human nature point of view and a reflection of the Civil War, Restoration and its failures, into the gilded age. Perhaps the most significant big ticket item was that the social rifts opened in the Civil War were never healed, well relatively never that is, cited but not explored in the biography! Much of the GOP political heartland is in fact, the Old South, with vast extensions into rural America, but hardly just that. Have i got that right?
Frank Loomer, along the same idea, take a look at two books by Colin Woodard: 1) Union:… and 2) American Nations. He makes the case that we have been, from first immigrations to now, a loose assembly of 11 different nations.
You haven’t read any of hers? Not more academic if by that you mean dry! These are about parts of our history that are agonizingly racist, violent, and unfathomly tragic… I found them hard to get through because they were not dry/academic. They certainly explain why we are where we’re at now…
“Speaker of the House Seward.” My mistake. He was Secretary of State, not Speaker of the House, but he was a target in the assassination plot. Why? Was he in line to succeed VP Andrew Johnson?
Miselle, I posted this here recently, but not sure all here have seen it, so am posting once again. Have sent it to friends & family….actually to just about everyone on my email contact list & asked that they spread it too: https://brianhassett.com/2023/12/why-i-love-joe-biden/
Marianne, a reader over on Ask E. Jean's substack wanted to thank Ms. Carroll for fighting for herself and all of us. She posted this quote said by Gloria Steinem:
“People now ask me if I'm passing the torch. I always explain that no, I'm keeping my torch, thank you very much. And I'm using it to light the torches of others.
Because the truth is that the old image of one person with a torch is part of the problem, not the solution. We each need a torch if we are to see where we're going. And together, we create so much more light.”
So, thank you, Barbara for lighting our torches so that we may spread this good news!
There's an article in The NY Times referring to her being able to donate to a good cause.
"The amount vastly eclipsed the $5 million awarded to her by a jury last spring in a different trial against Mr. Trump. It could take years before she sees the money, as Mr. Trump has said he will appeal, but she is already considering how she might use the money once she obtains it.
“I’m not going to waste a cent of this,” she said. “We’re going to do something good with it.”
Figuring that out will take some time, she added. But she will splurge on one luxury, she said — for her Great Pyrenees and her pit bull. “I’m going to be able to buy some premium dog food now,” she said."
Me?: I don't have any millions but I buy premium dog and cat food.
That's a fantastic essay on why to love Joe Biden. Love the cartoons and inserts, especially the final point that abstaining from voting or choosing to protest is a vote for Trump. So true!!! Will share share share!
It seems that Biden is showing his strength. He is joining Haley in attacking Trump, and from what I hear it is stressing Trump out. However unlike Haley he represents a clear difference. A constitutional leader, not a fascist lite! Does Haley join other Red States governors in supporting Abbott to ignore the Supreme Court? Dismissing an entire branch of government that has evolved to support Red State initiatives, how ever precedent overruling they are, however weakly they follow the constitution, or ignore it. According to this, she is one of those governors.
At the same time, I think it is fair and healthy not to see Biden as perfection, but as the excellent president he is. To be able to criticize that which did not work out, knowing that he went in with best of intentions, is to be able to be objective and not get sucked into a cult of Biden. I know that Biden is the best president in my lifetime, that does not mean I like all policy decisions. I also know that they are not made in a vacuum. I have seen Biden work against amazing resistance from the Republican members of government to get things done to keep our country running, and to try to support our allies. Ukraine is a striving democracy, and supporting them in their striving to remain sovereign as well as to keep their democracy are both served by supporting them. The more democracy we can bring about the better. I do not think at this point in time there is anyone better suited to do this in the USA than Biden. In Germany, the Constitutional Court just denied The Heimat Party (understood to be Nazis) funding from the tax base, because their platform defies the constitution. The big question now is can this be applied to the AfD, who actually has enough support to (20%?) to get tax funds to support their party. However, will they also be found to be too antidemocratic to receive funding as well? I hope so! I wish that people who donated to Trump would not be allowed to write it off on their taxes because they are funding a party and candidate that is working against the constitution. They are not even bothering to rewrite it, they are just making their own rules and laws and ignoring ours. Biden's greatest challenge remains here in the USA. I am 100% behind him taking it on.
As a long term executive holder, he has long since learned the best practice of surrounding himself "with good people" ie competent, suited for their assignments. Apart from being under appreciated for his efforts and successes, some of which he obtained with bipartisan means, the way a normal democracy should work, his administration has been saddled with the latest incarnation of a failed major political opposition, namely the GOP, albatrossed with MAGA under Trump.
Remember Obama had a helper on the side as his VP and Obama is now right there to consult. Making ads, etc. Biden does not operate in a void. He has trouble with speeches becuase the nuns changed him from left hand to right hand. That causes a stutter. Obama was also taught by the nuns ........in the Phillapines. He also was born left handed. The nuns did not change writing hand to right. (I was born without the spelling gene and will die not knowing how to spell. :-)
Me, too. And, I spent a year (1966) in Mensa. Spell check often helps out. But, sometimes it arrogantly decides it knows better than me what I should be typing.
Miselle, "tossing the good while seeking the perfect" is very apt with respect to Biden's situation. What puzzles me mightily, though, is how anyone could "seek the perfect" in Trump!
In a voter interview the gentleman stated that perhaps a change to Nikki Haley would be helpful. This after being asked about Biden vs Trump. Scary how many share the same lack of understanding.
Miselle, Your last sentence is something we all need to take to heart! It is time for all of us to “...stop tossing the good while seeking the perfect.”
FB kicked me out for good because I got hacked and didn't tell the age on my ID. Lost 15 years of photos: travel, the dog, dead friends, my adorable NYC apartment....Mean META!
Mean self-righteous Meta. They had a hack attack and my name and phone number have been on the dark web for years. I have LifeLock, and they tell me it's still found there, probably in perpetuity.
OMG! Remember when all we had was books? Somehow I was using my brain for things that interested me and had enough "social contacts". There was non of the time wasting constant fixes that keeps me, for one, glued to pointless complicated internet issues.
I never gave my phone number; they kept asking. I thought: For what!?
Did they actually tell you what "community standards." you violated??...They never told me...I had to guess.
I use Whatsapp which is really great. Everyone here in Mexico uses it and my friends who live all over the planet. I considered investing in it: BUT, it's owned by META. I'd have to buy FB stocks. .... ICK!
Thanks, Ellie, love the Liberal Rocks ! Perfect for my Trumper neighborhood.Although I will do some research and “ plant” them in more fertile, Independent soil.
Romantic gesture😂 by hubby to buy me a Biden / Harris sign.That will probably be a Spring planting. ❤️🤍💙
For those not on the Facebook platform. There's an email contact at the very bottom.
For years, folks here have asked for short, simple information about what is really happening in American politics to share with friends and family who aren’t paying close attention. It’s always been a great idea, but I just didn’t have the time to take it on.
Now, though, going into the 2024 election, one of this project’s key readers, Michele Rudenko, has stepped up. Her Biden for the Win campaign is designed to break down what is at stake in 2024 in cards that can be printed at home or at a copy center and either used as talking points or simply distributed where you think they will do some good.
When Michele came to me with this idea, I thought of how you all, along with organizations like Liberal Rocks, have been able to reach places that no official campaign ever could.
And that made me think of a project from 1936.
In that year, opponents of the New Deal were determined to make sure Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a flash in the pan, a one-term president whose actions would be erased and whose principles would be forgotten as the country returned to the ideology of the 1920s and government protection of business alone.
But women liked the FDR government’s regulation of business and provision of a basic social safety net, which had been advanced by people like Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet secretary.
So in summer 1936, women organized to produce what became known as “Rainbow Flyers”: one-page fact sheets printed on different colors of paper. Each would have “facts clearly stated [with] each flier carrying the important facts in a given field of government activity—as agriculture, business, labor, finance, etc.,” as the plans of the Women’s Division of the Democratic National Committee spelled out. “Just the facts and no comments,” as one woman said, “a sort of, if that’s what you want, vote for it.”
In her 1981 book Beyond Suffrage: Women in the New Deal, historian Susan Ware noted that these fliers made up 80% of all Democratic literature in 1936, as women and men distributed them across the country to make sure that folks who didn’t really understand what was happening in the country had access to factual information.
When FDR won reelection, one of the project’s organizers wrote to another: “In my humble opinion there is no one who did more to provide an intelligent basis of fact on which voters could make their decision in the campaign than you and your associates….”
So here we are in 2024, and what is old is new again.
Thanks for sharing this. I checked it out and I have to say that these messages are not going to resonate with Trump supporters. I would do a version that includes Biden’s action on the border. That’s a thing they care about but aren’t hearing or are misinformed on.
I’m not the creator, but I don’t believe the target is Trump supporters. They mentioned planting blue seeds. We have a huge percentage of voters in the middle and non-voters, all influence-able and with our persistent outreach, poised to tip the election to save democracy.
What is so effective about this is that one can relate not only to the symbolism ("as American as apple pie" versus the orange face paint), but to the taste and odor. I'm stealing!
'Youth and the 2024 Election: Likely to Vote and Ready to Drive Action on Key Political Issues'
November 29, 2023
CIRCLE's (Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University) '...early poll of youth (ages 18-34) ahead of the 2024 presidential election highlights major trends in young people's political views and participation.'
'In the past decade, young people have risen to the forefront of civic and political life in the United States. They have led major movements for action on issues like gun violence, climate, and racial justice. They have voted at historic rates compared to youth in previous decades, and their choices on the ballot have influenced key elections.'
'In 2024, Gen Z youth alone will make up over 40 million potential voters—including 8 million youth who will have newly reached voting age since 2022—making up nearly one fifth of the American electorate. Together with the youngest Millennials, young people ages 18-34 are poised to be a potential force in the next presidential election.'
'But young people are also living through trying times in their personal lives, for our country, and around the world that make their continued civic participation far from guaranteed. The nation’s economy, while strong by some accounts, has nonetheless left many young people concerned about jobs, the cost of living, and their financial situation. A mental health crisis affects many young people’s ability and desire to vote and engage in their communities. And many are looking ahead (though not necessarily looking forward) to a potential presidential rematch in 2024 between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump—two candidates that have not often garnered young people’s approval and enthusiasm.'
'This initial analysis from our nationally representative poll of youth ages 18-34 reveals major trends about youth, including:'
'A majority say they’re very likely to vote in 2024, though groups like Black youth and youth without college experience, who are getting less information about the election and support to participate, are less likely to say they’ll cast a ballot.'
'Youth overall prefer a Democratic candidate by a double-digit margin, but nearly a third are undecided and some groups of youth favor a GOP nominee.'
'Issues like climate change and gun violence remain at the center of youth engagement with politics and elections, but the cost of living is, by a wide margin, young people’s top concern.
Read below for detailed data and analysis on these and other questions, and see the bottom of this page for methodology and other information about the poll.'
'A Majority of Youth Say They’ll Vote in 2024—But Less Sure Who to Vote For
Diverse Issue Priorities, Like Climate, Shape Youth Votes and Action'
'Information and Support, Key to Youth Engagement, Are Often Still Lacking'
'Young Nonvoters: Who They Are and How to Engage Them' (The Circle) See link for more information from this survey about the youth vote, US, in 2024.
'The CIRCLE Pre-2024 Election Youth Survey was developed by CIRCLE at Tufts University, and the polling firm Ipsos collected the data from their nationally representative panel of respondents between October 25 and November 2, 2023. The study surveyed a total of 2,017 self-reported U.S. citizens ages 18 to 34 in the United States; unless otherwise mentioned, data are for all 18- to 34-year-olds in our sample. When data is reported by educational experience (college/no college) the sample used is youth ages 21-34 in order to account for young people who may pursue higher education later in life.'
Not the only foot on the gas pedal. Nothing like being complicit in a genocide to drive the drunk driver into believing a speedy delivery of weapons of war to a racist oppressor is the proper play. Empire simps abound.
Interesting - I once wrote a "dramedy"screenplay about Air America, "The Magic Bus." (Think Butch and Sundance in SEA riding a C-47 instead of horses) Was also privileged to be a friend of Erik Shilling, former Flying Tiger, former Air America pilot, who taught me how to barrel roll my Beech Bonanza.
This line is the one that spoke to me most: "A public practice of ignoring the law eventually broke down all the guardrails designed to protect individuals, while lawbreakers, going unpunished, became convinced they were entitled to act without restraint." We are witnessing this in spades right now, though here's hoping the E. Jean Carroll case is the start of an avalanche of judgments reversing the trend. Still, I wish the law/DOJ and the courts could work with more alacrity. I fear American democracy is running out of time.
Jude, have heart! New York DA starts Trump's criminal trial in 36 days! This is a strong case, the co-defendant who was less culpable (Michael Cohen) did jail time. Manhattan juries have not been real impressed with Trump these days! Yeah Georgia case is far off, Aileen 'Loose' Cannon will give Trump endless delays in Florida and despite best efforts of Jack Smith to get his case to trial, appeals are likely to delay the D.C. federal case to an unknowable date. BUT 'have no fear, Alvin Bragg is near, his determination is clear, Trump will go to jail for over a year'! https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial-stormy-daniels.html?unlocked_article_code=1.RE0.tCM7.-iuQz_raEOVH&smid=url-share
100Panthers, is it mean of me to be gleeful that TFFG will not have access to hairspray or bronzer in jail? Have no idea if his cult will respond “whoa, yuk!” to pics of him w/o his coiffure and tan slather…you know, just a regular jamoke behind bars….deflated.
Jail for Trump means no burgers, no french fries, no milk shakes, and no hookers. As this realization sinks in, watch his level of anxiety and hysteria skyrocket.
Hmmm Barbara, good question. I'm thinking, given the constant surveillance and video, might be sort of 'charming' to let his followers watch him primp like a vain little teenage girl for a few hours and then just sit in his cell all day doing nothing but whining like a cat in heat...only to repeat the process the next day. Riker's Island, got my tan at a vacation spot in The Islands!
1000Panthers, I seem to recall a while ago another commenter posting something about a new reality show called the Prison Apprentice….with you know who starring. Well, I never watched the first one, but might consider peeking at an episode or two of the Prison Apprentice!
it doesn't have to have coherent logic or substance (Mein K sure as shine-ola didn't). the lunatic tools and cynical enablers would be the next to look out for.
Good point. The Georgia and 2 federal cases are trailing, as are investigations in other states, he should get swamped. Only if society loses its nerve and lets him off the hook as did Germany, Cuba etc. But those protagonists were much younger and healthier.
And Lincoln’s message? it’s up to all of us, together, to carry the day: For starters, vote & support grass roots organizations. There are so many ways.
Thank you for the link to the New York Times story of January 25. As is usual nowadays, they are a day late and a dollar short on this story. When NY DA Alvin Bragg first filed the charges, he told America it was an election interference case. Clean and simple. Bragg could see the writing on the wall for shallow media, that they would defang it into a hush-money case about prostitution. He is not now "rebranding" the charges; he is reiterating the original framework for criminally charging Donald Trump. I find the New York Times insufferable in its intentional low-level coverage of Trump's many case. They continue to normalize Trump's heinous behavior.
It still galls be every time I think about the fact that, with little public comment, so far as I could tell, the Lincoln's Birthday holiday was tossed into the black hole of "President's Day.
Lincoln was not only key actor in American society's evolution toward greater awareness and justice, he was a particularly articulate "explainer" of what a just republic is all about. You can't adequately manage what you don't adequately understand, and Lincoln still provides a useful guide.
I remember when each "major" president got a day to celebrate. Then somebody decided the nation had to lump them all together into one day. Hated it, and still do.
I have a theory about Presidents Day: There was a long, long slog through the winter from New Years Day to Easter or Spring Break. The decision was made (while I was in college, so late 70's I believe) to have a Federal Holiday on the Monday between Feb 12th (Lincoln) and Feb 22nd (Washington).
My recollection is a bit different; when the movement to commemorate Dr. King gathered momentum, there was opposition to establishing another federal holiday, so the two February Presidential birthdays were consolidated, and Dr. King got a day that occasionally actually coincides with his birthday.
Dave, neither holiday was established without a lot of conflict. At the federal level, President's Day was established in 1971 and MLK day was established in 1983. The two things I know is that I had my first school holiday in Oregon in 1978 and that Virginia likes to call MLK day "Robert E. Lee" day.
I'm reading "Fever in the Heartland", and amidst the horror of just how long we've been this way as a country, I recalled that even the terrible, reactionary Supreme Court they had back in the 20s eventually changed to the better court we had in the 70s, and it was very calming to remember that.
It feels quite often like we're going one step forward, two steps back, but perhaps we're really going two steps forward, one step back, and gradually making progress.
Rebecca Solnit expresses such themes in Hope in the Dark. There's more progress than the dominant groups want people to realize. "The arc of the moral universe..."
Pat, as have posted here numerous times….the anthem to keep my juice from flagging is Jackson Browne’s Til I Go Down (and you can dance to it!): (ad may play first) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
Haven't dared to read it, and I now regret putting "Hope in the Dark" on my Kindle where good books go to die. Just starting "True West", about the myths that gave rise to resistance to law and order.
My paperback came yesterday, and the type is pretty small, so I may regret not ordering the Kindle version. But it has end notes and an index like good nonfiction used to.
Karen, looks like there's a time algorithm to SCROTUS. Awful in the 20's, but came to life in the 50's under the Warren Court, and continued through the 70's. Hopefully, it will swing back before 2250...
And remind all that once upon a time the republican party claimed to be the party of Lincoln. Seems it’s not that Lincoln or it’s not this Republican Party.
Now, the Republican party has been destructed as the party of DJT. I wonder what the new Party of Lincoln will call itself? The Legions of Law and Lincoln...? I am sure there are many better ideas out there...
Yes he did JL; and as Bryan adequately postulates "Lincoln's deductive reasoning was already well developed.." , as was his ability to identify as opposed to comparing, empathy and emotional, cultural I.Q.
Thank you SLR Lucky Chix. I do not recall reading an Abraham Lincoln from his younger development years. Lincoln's deductive reasoning was already well developed, "gates of hell shall not prevail against" ... a "greater institution."
No wonder Lincoln found General Grant. Hat Tip to Paul Krugman -- something of a Grant historian.
I like that part too, Bill. And also the part where he said don't feed the poor, or help outsiders, or help those with disabilities. And of course he called for hypocrisy, greed, and loudly praying in the Temple.
I often reflect on the movie Oh God with John Denver and George Burns. At one point George Burns , playing God, says to the Bible thumping, white shoe wearing, bad wigged evangelist, “Who told you to say that?”
This was a wonderful post commemorating a great speech that has real resonance today.
I just wish you could have included a reference to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, also January 27, and pointed out the similarities between the lawlessness and violence we experience today to that which led up to the Holocaust.
TCM just showed "Nuremburg", which followed the second part of "Shoah". None of the other channels have had anything concerning the Holocaust. Watching the story of the trial made me think of our justice system, in that it still has not brought the instigator of the insurrection to trial. The crimes in WWII were much more horrific, but there was little delay in bringing the perpetrators to justice. And as the saying goes, "justice delayed is justice denied." We are desperately in need of that justice.
James, dang, I wish I’d checked the schedule so I could DVR the programs. Checked the listings just now to see if there would be repeats, but no, appears not.
Ah, yes. The German industrialists and the old Prussian generals were so sure that they would keep Adolph from becoming too extreme. After all, there were laws.
Pogroms in Russia, holocaust in Strasbourg in the 1300's (all Jews who survived were not permitted inside the city walls unless they were money lenders, and those folks had to leave before dark). Slaughter in the Round tower in England in the 1200's, slaughter on October 7 2023 in Israel....who can truly forget? Right wing "Christians"; Islamic jihadists; homeless and stateless people suffering their own personal holocaust and desperately trying to stay sane. Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget.
I watched Ken Burns series, the US and the Holocaust today, while we were painting cupboards. What struck me was how quickly humanity looses its compassion for those suffering. The forces in Government and parts of the public's resistance to helping Jews immigrate to America. A lot antisemitism then and now. Good Christians can be Nazis too. And here we are today.
Real Christians (those who work everyday to follow the teachings about love and forgiveness, fail, and wake the next morning and try again) cannot be Nazis; their goals are antithetical. Those who fig-leaf using the name of “Christian” can be a whole history book of nastiness. Crusader, Defender of the Faith, any of the groups that had to put down heretics, kill the sinners to save them, it goes on.
Some Christians appear loving and humble, and other who claim the title prove to be extremely arrogant and cruel. I Suspect that the latter strain comes from a warping by people in power, kings and the like who claim God picked them to act in God's stead. Malignant narcissism, avarice, and bullying, even torture and genocide, in place of "love thy neighbor".
I believe that whenever the over-arching message is that of evangelism rather than putting Jesus' teachings into practice, it will inevitably become an authoritarian cult.
Frank, couldn't have said it better. On a day that commemorates the Holocaust, we hear hardly a whisper in the press. To confront it would make us face the fact that minorities like the Jews have been scapegoated for millennia.
Jeri, I always appreciate your comments on the letters we subscribe to, however, let me push back on your recent post. In order to evaluate an individual's time on earth, I believe one must not only look at his recent behavior but his entire biography. So there is no misunderstanding, let me first state that Netanyahu's recent leadership history is not in keeping with the aspirations and goals of the Israeli public or mine. He must go!
If you value the NYT, the Guardian and left wing progressive news outlets and main stream media, you are only getting one side of the story. Jewish outlets give a more nuanced Netanyahu history IMO i.e. J Post, Haaretz, Times of Israel. Here is is a summary of Netanyahu's climb to power and why a comparison with tRump's leadership is a travesty of justice.
Early Life: Netanyahu was born in 1949, He grew up in Israel, however as an adolescent he moved to the US, where his father was a history professor. Netanyahu studied at Harvard and MIT. Deeply affected by his elder brother's death serving as commander of the Entebbe operation which freed hostages in France, Netanyahu organized two international conferences that sought to combat terrorism. In 1984 he was appointed Israel's UN ambassador around the age of 34. A forceful debater and articulate speaker helped. Fast forward to 1996, he became the youngest prime Minister to ever hold the office in Israel.. During the Obama administration. bad chemistry existed between them. Slights of hand can play an important role in politics. Obama visited Cairo without any plans to visit Israel. Next, Obama insisted that Israeli residents were settlers in East Jerusalem and there should be no further incursion of Israeli citizens into East Jerusalem. Israel considers the whole city of Jerusalem as their capital. That demand is analogous in Israeli opinion to asking Washington, D.C. to share their capital with Russia.vtRump supported Israel's belief the Jerusalem was Israel's capital. Of course, the Israeli public was ecstatic over his decision. Wouldn't we be? Israel was also being attacked from the Golan Heights for decades. tRump gave Israel control of the Golan Heights. Don't blame Israel for celebrating these victories. Blame the republican congress. In 2011, Netanyahu addressed congress stating that he supported a Palestinian state, but insisted on the negotiations be held between the Palestinian Authority who were in control of the area and Israel. He knew full well the UN would put their thumb on the scale. By 2015, Netanyahu gave up on a two state solution and declared Palestine would never become a state under his watch. This is why Netanyahu made that decision. He and Israel experienced 7 major wars and 8 operations at that tim 2015, in their effort to fend off their Arab neighbors' aggression. They lost thousands of Israelis. During the 1948-War of Independence-Israel lost 6000 people in a country the size of Conn. United Nations calls for a cease fire, but Arab neighbors refused to comply. Since 2015, Israel faced three more operations and two major wars with Hamas, culminating on 10/7/2023. Four US Presidents tried to negotiate a two state solution without success. Under the Clinton administration, Arafat got 99% of what he wanted and refused. It is time for people of good will to see that Iran is calling the shots and no matter how much territory Israel has given up since the 1917 promise of the Balfour Declaration and the 1948 partition plan which left Israel with 20% and Jordan with 80% of Palestinian land, the Arabs have not been satisfied. That's because their major goal is to eliminate the state of Israel. Those are not idle words. The 10/7 attack is a sample of the lengths these bottom feeders are willing to go to achieve their ends, however, as I said before you wouldn't know that if you only watch the prevailing wisdom that has always prevailed when Jews are singled out. They have always been a useful scapegoat for millennia.
Thank you. I knew most of this. Even back to when Vanessa Redgrave was the only one I heard speak out for Palestinians. Of course, Arafat was such a worm that most, including me, were disgusted by his shenanigans. The reason I am disgusted with Netanyahu is because of his corruption and being one of the evil twins with trump. The ridiculous invasion of the settlements (not East Jerusalem) was a message that the Palestinians would be screwed, big time. For years I have been waiting for the big explosion. And a whopper it was...
The difference in tRump's and Netanyahu's corruption is only defined by night and day. I won't go into the Netanyahu corruption, however, I will say he never tried to overthrow his gov't. Overhauling the judiciary to keep him out of jail does not tell the whole story. He has a history of defending Israel with his military service. He volunteered to go back to Israel and serve in the IDF, where he was wounded. On the other hand, tRump has a history of avoiding the draft. His father must have paid millions to keep him safe. Netanyhu's corruption history didn't span most of his life. He was a philanderer and spent more than he could afford, whereas tRump was a criminal committing fraud and putting people out of business wherever he did business. Netanyahu was a man of his word in international negotiations. tRump is a pathological liar. tRump committed treason, Netanyahu never did. No, Jeri, he is not tRump's twin. He may wind up in jail or lose the Prime Minister's office,
but the Judiciary will remain in tact and Jewish values will prevail. We could only wish for that in this country.
The beauty of a good forum like this one is the room it makes to extend the discussion. Lincoln relied on the divine underpinnings of law to call out deadly civic prejudice. He saw clearly that the bonds of civic reciprocity (liberty and justice for all) is our essential civic covenant. From Trump to Hitler is no longer speculative - the law must hold and it’s our collective duty to see that it does. Voting and exhorting others to vote is our sacred civic duty.
“A re-election campaign year for a Democrat president coinciding with an active genocide backed by that same president is exposing the true face of the Democratic Party clearer than anything I can remember.
Biden is preparing to send Israel 50 child murder jets and 12 child murder helicopters, but oh no no we mustn’t focus on this too much because it’s an election year and Trump is a very bad person.
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I understand the logic of lesser-evil voting. I just don’t understand the logic of designating a president who backs a literal genocide and engages in nuclear brinkmanship a “lesser evil”.
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A political establishment which tells you you have to choose between two presidential candidates who both want to help Israel murder children by the thousands is a political establishment which must not be permitted to exist.”
The GQP is run by a gang of Christian White Nationalists Billionaires. They have for worked for decades and spent billions to bring this country to its knees. They have created a 'Hate Thy Neighbor' platform. Instead of us and MSM pointing the finger at them, they have us pointing at each other. All the while the only finger they are pointing at us is their middle finger. They are the danger to democracy. They are the ones trying to break us. They thrive on hate, racism, misogyny and all the rest of it. They own the Supreme Court. They bought it all. They will dismantle this country piece by piece. Why in the fuck are they not being called out? Why do we have to wait for ProPublica to call them out. We got big trouble. Even with Trump out. They will replace him with someone worse. They are the enemy within our own country. Lincoln was right.
The next puppet of those bigoted oligarchs will be smoother and sneakier. Someone like MAGA Mike Johnson. Calm demeanor as he proclaims a national religion. Mellow voice as he disables environmental protections. Presenting a perfectly reasonable aura while destroying democracy and kneecapping everyone but white male haters.
The rich now rue the day they backed a clumsy idiot. They have kept their money because they are clever. We need to identify them and shine a light on their evil.
They need to be taxed into oblivion. They need to be publicized as a rogues gallery in the Post Office. "Wanted: For Murdering America".
Mike Johnson's voice is about control. He is a control freak. He uses that tone to make one lean in to hear him. His dedication to controlling himself is purposeful. It covers for his insecurities.
Project 2025 is the guide for autocracy. One man will run the show and that man is Agent Orange. The whole Project is designed for him. The entire government will be run by MAGAQ people only. Education will be supplied by them online. Martial law will be part of our everyday lives. Steve Bannon will be in charge that. Chuck Grassley thinks hes going to be Attorney General and promises 3 weeks of hell. I have been bringing this up every where I go. No one has heard of it. Heavy sigh.
I hear you, Jeri. Where are they? I contacted the NYT about that. I got a defensive pissy response. I backed it up with an article from the Columbia Journalism Review, The Warped Front Pages. It was posted by someone here. I can't remember their name to give them credit for it.
And the thoughts, words and deeds of so many preachers who dare to call themselves "Christ-ian" are the epitome of all that he was put to death for denouncing.
Let us get back to basics as human beings and hold to that.
I recall hearing "Party of Lincoln" rhetoric from the "GOP" back in the 1950's but they seem to have backed off it, fearing, I suspect, a comparison. Trump seemed astonished to "discover" the Lincoln was a Republican. Lincolns celebrity endues, but little of his political philosophy, at least in mainstream buzz. The right now dominates the media. Pitchman Reagan assuredthe public that with money you get to do whatever you want, and with the rich in charge, we all would be rich. Where is any historical precedent for that bit of illogic.
Exactly. Reaganomics “trickle down economics” model was and is a blatant failure, and if the general populace were educated enough (ha! Republicans do not want THAT!) to research any and all of the above they would not continue to vote for the loudest mouth against their own best interests. And yet....here we are, the mouth louder and more vile and way more appealing to them than facts.
“Lincoln was quick to clarify that he was not saying all laws were good. Indeed, he said, bad laws should be challenged and repealed. But the underlying structure of the rule of law, based in the Constitution, could not be abandoned without losing democracy.”
What we should say, is that everyone should be treated equally under the law, or that no one should get to choose which laws do or don’t apply to them—rather than say ‘no one is above the law.’
Why? Because the law is not blameless—consider all the laws being passed to take away women’s reproductive freedoms, to suppress our votes, to ban books, or the laws that created segregation, or that upheld slavery.
The law itself, is not sacrosanct; it is OUR individual rights and freedoms that are...
Words matter when it comes to ensuring justice is fair...and not the plaything of the rich and powerful.
Natalie, your comment here sent my brain down a rabbit hole. Even constitutional amendments are not sacrosanct. I note that since the first 10 amendments (what we know of as the "Bill of Rights") there have been some that fix the constitution (13: outlawing slavery, 15: right of male citizens to vote, 17: popular election of senators, 19: right of women to vote, 20: changing the time line of presidential terms, 22: presidential term limits and changing the line of presidential secession, 25: presidential vacancy, and 26: reduction in age limit for voting) but only one repealed an amendment (the 21st, which repealed the 18th, prohibition).
It seems to me that the one amendment which attempted to put "morality" forward and was repealed somewhat later (1919-1933).
Agreed! The issue is that we too often imbue concepts and constructs with agency/personhood—the disastrous case of Citizens United is the poster child for this, where SCOTUS made independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations unlimited, giving corporations not only the same right of free speech as individuals—but equating dollars to speech…
But the issue is much broader—consider the idea of a corporation and its ascribed rights, or the economy and its anthropomorphized attributes.
The Renaissance and Enlightenment movements pushed back on the notion that everything worth knowing was already known, and humans were meant to strictly conform to those traditions. Fortunately for us, progressive ideas made it into our fondling charter, and indeed defined it; "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union..."; not "perfect" but "more perfect", which is radical.
A living document, explicitly designed to be enacted and improved by the deliberations of generations to come. A document not legitimized by the special authority of it's authors but by the aggregated societal recognition of the demonstrated soundness of the principles they put together.
" It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, continuously rule, and that public opinion, expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters."
"Lincoln reminded his audience that the torch of American democracy had been passed to them."
Made me think of this line:
"We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world." - John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address
Daniel, and is how I see the Biden/Harris admin w/ the delegating important positions to those well-versed and capable….great team work. Love that Joe in NO way implied that he “alone can fix it”. Naw, he’s WAY smarter than to believe that!
What would the man who spoke these words think of his successor supporting ethnic cleansing and the indiscriminate murder of thousands of civilians with gifts of American arms?
What an amazingly prophetic speech; Lincoln was a man for his time. It sometimes feels as though life events are on a loop, and what has happened in the past is doomed to happen again.
Now, in this seemingly circular cyclical replaying of human psychological angst, what we can perhaps not rely on absolutely but reasonably expect to bring forth, is also the human desire of conscience to repair our body politic. Bad ugly outer showings of human depravity illustrate the danger of not acknowledging the existence of our shadows - our range of possible selves - and our need to willingly shape and embrace our common good through the shared practices of social good, not public displays of our worst fears and over extended egos.
While common sense seems to get lost in the media cloud of moneymaking engines feeding on thrill, conflict, gossip and lying (not watching that garbage anymore) the greater pull of sensible action has more than an equal chance of regaining balance. There will always be such cycles - ones that imitate Nature herself in all her splendid life of changes - and we are her creatures, humanimals with larger brains, with thinking and reasoning capabilities.
The questions are always with us. A question is not an answer; it is a beginning. Answers are created by our actions; prayers are personal reminders of even our ability to pray. When we pray we are really speaking with the greater good within us, no matter the imagined source, eternal mysteries.
Charming notion: "that the law must prevail over individual passions."
The orange-make-up-caked, diaper-fouled fat guy has thrown the gauntlet down on that one.
He doesn't recognize law, or the courts, or even the institution of Congress, where he refuses to let his spineless Republican cultists there do anything constructive in return for their paychecks.
He commands MAGA Mike not to do anything constructive with Dems on the southern border. MAGA Mike caves.
So America has now gone back to the 1830s with the befouled, rapist, insurrectionist.
There was a young Lincoln then. We've many good young adults now, too.
Can they cohere? Can they match the spawners of chaos, the lone wolves with their racism and AR-15s, the avid followers of hate sites engineered by the most cynical of social media billionaires?
Such as the standardized testing which drove humanities from out of our schools -- to replace them with the numbers, abstracted hierarchies, categories, group-think catered to by our billionaires and vulgarly commercial others also humanities dead.
They are emerging. And they appear to be crossing lines, having seen the destruction wrought by a failed party (cult) that has allowed itself to be controlled by a hideous freak with an orange face. Even in this supposedly red state with an egomaniac trying to start another Civil War, there are young people running for office who exemplify the "goodness" that we so desperately need in this country. Two I know of have come from the ranks of education - they are teachers. One is a lifelong Republican with Democratic values - her entire "platform" reads like a Democratic platform. The other is the spouse of a veteran. I hope that my own personal experience is being repeated around the country so we can cleanse the likes of MTG and her ilk from Congress.
I suspect that the mood of the country could be elevated about 100 degrees if more people were confident that those who broke the law would be punished by the law, irrespective of race, creed, or wealth.
“But his recognition, in a time of religious fervor and moral crusades, that the law must prevail over individual passions reverberates far beyond the specific crises of the 1830s.”
It is interesting that the use of religion has been so prevalent in tearing down societies. Authoritarians and anarchists often preach that there is a higher law than those that people make. That is their excuse to break laws and further their self-interest. Trump, in his crazy way, appeals to the evangelicals. The Speaker of the House is smug as he allows people to die, but tells us he is a modern Moses. The excuse for the tragic behavior on both sides of the war in Israel is linked to religion, when it is clear it is about politics, territory and power. It has always been that every religion prays for peace and then the people go and slaughter those who pray to a different god. Following laws demands that people have a greater respect and concern for other people, and that the judgment of god is reserved for the next world.
All monotheistic religions end up in hierarchy. Violence against the outsider groups is a common tool to enforce the hierarchy. Religious people are more likely to seek their comfort in that hierarchy even when they see the violence. Perpetuating that violence even makes some feel holier.
Of course they do. If God is male, then women can never be "in the image of God.". They love to say that "man was made in the image of God." It is the other way around...humans invariably invent god(s) in the image of themselves.
No, even Buddhism has a history of power, violence and war. As much as I like its tenets, the history of Japan is rife with conflicts and violent uprisings in which Buddhism played a role. But, honestly, to make the discussion clearer, one should differentiate between the religion itself and religious _institutions_. Latter are less concerned with the religion itself, imho, and more concerned with power - and that almost always leads to conflict and war. I hold this to be true fir Buddhism, but also for Christianity: the Crusades were politically motivated, and not intrinsically religious.
If only it were possible to separate a religion and its institution. But since both are created by humans, it cannot be done. This is why we require other institutions to check and balance churches and why we must keep religion out of government, which is the only institution that can do the job. Jefferson wanted to protect government from the church. Madison wanted to protect the Church from the Government.
You cannot separate them entirely, indeed. But it irks me when, for instance, people start shouting "religion should be banned, it only creates wars". Well, it doesn't, it just a vehicle or an excuse. People will start wars over something else then, be it skin colour, type of shoes they wear or the soccer club they are fan of... Wars are fought over land, money, or power - nothing else. Keeping religion out of politics is absolutely no guarantee against war or power struggles, it would be better to keep money out of politics then, I say...
thank you for that clarity — I can rarely articulate what bugs me about the ways religions are framed as entities, rhetorically warped for identity politics, and/or simplified as "root causes".
Nope, they are also violent at times, but were a little more egalitarian with it. If you have a pantheon of gods representing all different interests to pray to, you don't develop rigid, unescapable hierarchies. Think of the petty pantheon of gods of Greek and Roman mythology. Ultimately, though, monotheism is cheaper. One God requires fewer offerings, and it offers no possible competition to the top ranks, regardless of who that God represents.
Rather than saying "all monotheistic religions end up in hierarchy", I would say, "all proselytizing religions end up in hierarchy." If a religion cannot admit that theirs is not the only true religion, then it inevitably ends up as authoritarian.
A religion that does not claim to be the only true religion will soon lose all its adherents.
Religion is mostly humans creating a God they can appeal to for
1. Relief from fear or doubt (it's God's plan)
2. Community of like minded people (a church community can be very welcoming and also discriminatory against unbelievers)
3. Power over their communities of other people, (imposing religious laws like Dobbs, Sharia, etc)
4. Justification for their behaviors (used to justify slavery, female subjugation, holy wars).
In this way, humans are creating God in their own likeness, not "man was created in His image." In matriarchies, there was the Goddess. In Patriarchies it's the omnipotent Father. Both versions necessarily exclude the opposite sex from ever being "in the image of God".
George Fox and the early Quakers rejected the idea of creeds and when asked to swear on the Bible said, "The truth is more holy than the book to me". Quakers, Unitarian Universalists, and other non-creedal traditions have been going strong for hundreds of years. I think you speak from preconceived opinion rather than from evidence.
The existence of a few exceptions does not invalidate the preponderance of evidence.
In 2017, there were an estimated 377,557 adult Quakers, 49% of them in Africa, and a measley 75,000 American Quakers in 2018, barely more than the 55,000 existing in America in 1700, 320 years ago. Clearly, they have failed to attract many adherents to their noble, creedless practices.
My opinion is based on the bulk of evidence, not the few exceptions. Your claim of the exception is akin to answering "all lives matter" to the Black Lives Matter movement, in that you claim the exception over the rule.
Now that is nasty and insulting to someone you don't know.
EDIT: On reflection, I over reacted to the second sentence of the last paragraph, taking personal offense to "Your claim of the exception is akin to answering "all lives matter" to the Black Lives Matter movement, in that you claim the exception over the rule."
Whatever we consider to be the Divine can never be more than our own limited perception of the Divine - we are like the blind people trying to define the elephant by describing the part of the elephant's body they are touching.
Every person's "knowledge" of the Divine is based on the metaphors they are most amenable to by personal experience.
Any religion that requires you to surrender your metaphors to their official metaphor thusly requires you to commit your life to idolatry: The abandonment of your personal experience in favor of someone else's declared experience.
All deities commomly proposed by humans are metaphors, usually for human beings. If you want God to be real, you have to start with reality. Spinoza explained it all. He saw that there is no religion and no theocracy associated with God. And that solves a lot of problems.
You are really referring to our condition today where the GOP wants the complete and total destruction of Democracy. Lincolns speech was 23 years from the start of the Civil war and our issues today have a longer timeline starting with Regan. We are approaching our civil war. Thanks Heather!
Starting with including the right to own slaves in the Constitution as well as the principle of representing land rather than people with the apportionment of the Senate and Electoral College.
James, I totally agree. I had issues with some of his policies/decisions, but he was a decent man who called out the deep flaws that eventually tripped us up.
Yes. Worthy of the office, but not the best option in his elections. Stevenson was a much better political thinker and an able administrator. Probably have to go back to Teddy R to find a really competent Republican president, not that he didn’t have hus problems, but his problems were endemic in the electorate at that time.
Anne-Louise Luccarini, yes true, but many people have awakened to this truth and that gives me hope. Although, in response many have pushed further into unwakefulness. Our job is to increase the former and pull them into the vortex of wise action.
Thanks HCR for another illuminating moment in history that bears crucially on today. Again, thanks. We need to hear this and hear it again. Lincoln was amazing in his perceptions and in his ability to frame words for the moment that reach far beyond that moment.
Thank you, Heather. I think many Americans forget that the American democracy did not emerge fully-fledged from the founders: they knew that they were creating something fragile that would need nurturing and careful tending to keep it viable. And Lincoln recognized the ways in which we were most vulnerable, then and in the future. His speech is a good reminder of the responsibility we all have to keep democracy safe. His was not merely a warning, but a heads up that if we did not, we would be in danger. A danger that we could avert, if we are willing to recognize when the signs appear and act to prevent those signs from growing into full-fledged threats to our evolving democracy
We have been on the edge several times, and are now. It is not an inevitability that the loop repeats, as some seem to think. Lincoln wasn't being prescient, though it may appear that way at first glance. He was being realistic and pragmatic, and he issued a warning against something that he lived not only to see, but to live through and die for. That doesn't mean it is something that is inevitably going to happen again. The danger may arise, but we can stop it if we recognize it and address it before it damages our nation the way the Civil War did.
I think that is what is happening now: As a nation, we held onto our institutions, and while the process of protecting them is still in process, the point is that the process is happening, day by day, hearing by hearing, election by election. Even postcard by postcard, at the most basic level, urging people to vote to retain our democracy.
It is a difficult and challenging and sometimes frightening process, but we are doing what we need to do, and we are succeeding. We will get our democracy back on sound footing. And, having done that, we will have fulfilled Lincoln's gift to us of reminding us of what is at stake.
Love the history lesson. "Letters" has become not only a valuable view point on the news of the day but a important reminder that those who don't study history and learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. How ironic that a twenty-nine year old running for his third term as a Illinois State Representative and would preside over the greatest tragedy in American history, could so clearly speak to the issues of today. Great letter. Thank-you. WJB
William, posts like this are the "meat" of LFAA. They are so valuable for a variety of reasons. When the Professor posts about current events, she has said many times that her mission is to document, for future historians, what an historian sees of today's events from their perspective.
I like to think of it as auditing a graduate level American History class, and engaging in the "group discussions" is an education in and of itself!
You've definitely got your foot on the gas pedal these past couple weeks, HCR - to the benefit of all who read this site. Your talk with the president has energized you. Hopefully you also energized him.
Indeed! Biden is not perfect, as some here enjoy pointing out, but I truly believe that deep in his heart, he is a good man.
MAGA perceives good, honorable men as weak or flawed. I disagree. I find that self-control and self sacrifice are ideal characteristics of our leaders. I think the time has come for the majority of voters to say that they are done with childish, outrageous stunts.
And also for the naysayers to stop tossing the good while seeking the perfect.
Biden is a serious and well studied statesman in my opinion. Consider the tragedies in his family life from which he rebounded and held steady. He has the making of a solid leader and although his voice is soft, it is measured and steady. Compared to his competition, there is zero comparison. He is a President that wants our country to be united. How many times now has the Democratic Senate and the Executive office along with the Democratic minority in the House managed to move a fully non-functioning House of Representatives to make a deal and there was hope that we could move forward only to have the truly destructive caucus of radicals stop it all. Again. And again.
Miselle said it so well. No one is perfect but I seriously cannot find one redeeming trait in the leadership of the Republicans except those that lost their political careers because of their fellow MAGA component. We must support a President that has led us out of COVID and what could have been financial catastrophe. How short memories are indeed.
Biden has spent years interacting with thousands of people including politicians from both sides of the aisle. For many years, Biden took the train from Delaware to DC when he was a Senator and reports are that he often interacted with people on the train. HCR has interviewed Biden many times and I'm sure they both learned from each of those experiences.
One thing that Biden, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln all have in common is they all enjoyed interacting with all Americans. Roosevelt wrote over 150,000 letters and Lincoln personally answered many letters when he was President. I have no information on Biden's correspondence but we all know he is skilled at listening to others.
Trump doesn't interact with people -- he talks at them. Is there any other President who cared less about learning anything. He knows as little about Covid-19 today as the day he heard about the possibility of a pandemic in late 2019. He gives a terrible interview and his rallies are filled with sycophants that he pays to show up.
Gary, remember when he suggested using disinfectants to cleanse the body of covid?
"Talking at them" is the perfect description of his interaction with people.
Goading them, inciting them to violence, appealing to their racist and holier-than-thou attitudes, his garbled and disjointed messages encourage the mob mentality that caused the insurrection against the government. He talks AT them with words they love to hear:.
He is a spoiled adolescent brat who whines when he can't get his way, disparaging all who dare to disagree or threaten his hold on his followers.
His words would be the opposite of Lincoln's words quoted here by HCR.
What a shame that so many people are blinded by his unhinged fervor while "talking at them."
One of the things that Trump does offer the brainwashed cultists (and I do not get how they derive any meaning whatsoever from his word slaw messes of dangling sentences and random thoughts, but, whatever) is validation and justification for their own grievances and rage--not to mention drama and entertainment--all of which is sorely lacking in their own lives.
So true! I never knew there were so many angry, rage-filled people until he brought them to the forefront. They need someone to stoke their fears and anger; he needs someone to worship and bow down to him.
A perfect match for an imperfect situation.
He hates the same people they hate and he says so out loud. That's what they love about him. He validates their rage. Very scary.
They don't care what he says, just being in his presence is enough.
He could speak "in tongues"; they would still cheer their "righteous leader".
Pam, Many Republican politicians will only SAY they support trump but will not. Their fear is for their lives and their careers. Only MAGA support trump. Trump’s showing in Iowa and New Hampshire were laughable in my mind. He is out speaking more and more word salad. The rescumliCons are panicked.
My anger is geared at the fact that he has been established to be fully unqualified to take ANY office due to the deadly coup incitement. Yet we watch this 3 year old repulsive delay play out as danger continues.
I personally am supporting those who make advertisements about trump’s lunacy, using trump himself as the star of psycho world ramblings. Move On & Lincoln Project are doing a nice jobs with this.
President Biden and more importantly Joe Biden the human, truly and seriously cares about all Americans. He also embodies the trait seldom pointed out, he listens. dt is on transmit 100%. He probably does not even receive, period, except for the adoring rubbish from those who have no knowledge of our laws, our history, our very constitution and nor does that mob desire to try to learn real facts.
Your comment Pat reminds me of when Priebus was his babysitter and had to make sure that TFFG didn't see any negative press. I agree that facts are of no consequence to the MAGA mob or the white faux-Christian Nationalists.
I was at a Delaware football game a few years ago, when Biden was VP. Shortly before halftime, the various Deans and administrators sitting near began checking their phones and saying to each other "He'll be here after halftime."
He (Biden) arrived just before halftime. He seemed to know everyone the in the stadium by name. At one point he leaned over the railing (we were in the front row of the bleachers) and called out the the sound man by name from the cable station televising the game and chatted with him for a few moments.
At one point, a young man stopped by while Biden was in a conversation with one of the university administrators. Biden paused and asked what he could do for the man. The man asked if he could get a photo with his girlfriend and Biden. Biden told him he was in the middle of something and that it would be a little while before he do the photo and the man left. When the conversation was over, Biden called one of his Secret Service men over and asked them to get the young man and his girlfriend. (He referred to the young man by name.). The Secret Service man returned with the young man and his girlfriend; photos were taken; and Biden left a few moments later.
He could easily have "forgotten" about the photos and left after his conversation with the administrators, but he didn't. He's a genuinely good person who thinks of others. I will proudly vote for him in November.
Excellent story Fran.
Gary, we are in a different age of correspondence; when I write to him on Whitehouse.gov I always get a satisfactory response, from him/his people. We are given that opportunity for the free flow of ideas through technology.
I remember Tim Russert's interview with David Duke. I'd like to see what he could have done with Trump in another interview (a little tougher than his 1999 interview with Trump). See https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-flip-flop-meet-the-press_n_580e46b0e4b000d0b157c993
🤩🤩 I can’t believe I lucked onto this today!! Thank you! Thank you!
Trump gives interviews? More likes he gets his exercise by walking out just as he did at one of his trials (and then complained that he didn't get to testify).
Trump talks at people. He repeats the same lies and boring accusations ad nauseam interrupted by gibberish.
Pat, TFFG is a carney-barker to Biden’s elder statesman.
Snake oil peddler or worse. Let's remember though that those peddlers only existed because demand was there.
They "buy" the snake oil peddler's wares, in part, because they want to believe it, on the one hand, and they don't have the critical thinking skills necessary to test the hypothesis. Fast forward, MAGA/KKK folks buy TFFG'S spiel, IMO, because he is selling them something that they opine for - white Protestant supremacy. This is what brings together the evangelicals and the racists, IMO.
As someone said on MSNBC early this morning, we are living in a post-truth world. Heather has told US how and why. We have to claw our way out and back to truth FAST. Every time I hear it said that Ukraine might accept leaving some of her territory in Russian hands, I quiver because it means that leaving any part of Russian power in Ukrainian land is beyond preposterous in a NATO world, which is essential to Europe.
D4N, and the enthralled will part with their last pennies to buy a bottle (or more!) of “elixir of dreams to be” woven by the words of the spell-caster.
Freak shows were what carnival barkers promoted. Still are, it seems
Touche ~
Would the people who voted for TFFG who changed their mind please stand up. Stand up and explain what attracted them ,what changed their mind . There are influential ,very rich people behind the scenes ( some backers not so hidden) ..are they not aware of the frequent underside of the bus syndrome, not aware of his dismal track record, or is some shiny objective the real goal and we/Trump just pons in the plan?
The standout consistency is lying ...humungous amounts -still ongoing!
The facts though, statistical data easily accessed, printed , broadcast, seldom get above the din danger . The stinking snake oil still sells.
Cults are strange phenomena , that analogy keeps circling about this circus cacophony and major ingredient of Poison Pie #2025
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
He *IS* a solid leader! People keep damning him with faint praise as if they don't know what the Biden administration has achieved in the last three years, and against daunting odds. People seem to conflate leadership with charisma. Some individuals do have both, but plenty have one without the other.
So many people complain about his age and it feels like they are covering for something else that they can’t even acknowledge 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️ seriously worried about his age of all things. I DON’T GET IT!!
I love your comment about how "it feels like they are covering for something else that they can't even acknowledge" -- because you've pinpointed what's been bugging me and I couldn't even name it. Are they afraid he's going to die in office? Presidents much younger than he have died in office and the country survived. Are they afraid he's going to die in office *and then Kamala Harris, a woman of color, will be president*? I've got a hunch that's at least part of it -- and that they can't admit out loud how racist and sexist that makes them sound. Because it *is* racist and sexist.
Interesting. Perhaps you nailed it! Thank you!
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/4391046-is-joe-biden-a-superager-were-asking-all-the-wrong-questions/?fbclid=IwAR27tQbFn9A7saBiJ17wTELjsd3fkkgl3FThJu8DgrEbgLN1Ung5uheHoUk
When the both siders or what abouts start up, I ask for the Dem equivalents of Mtg and Boebert and Johnson, etc. Lot of humma humma responses.
Read an interesting article in WAPO on black men (not women) and disappointment with Biden, something like What has Biden done for Me? Left me very confused and with many questions. Definitely something to address. I need to reread it.
Ask yourself why WaPo is running that sort of article. Ask yourself why "What has Biden done for me?" is set up as the make me/break me question. It's a fine question to ask of one's congressional representatives and one's state legislators, but is it the most important question to ask of the U.S. president at this point in our history?
We have to have our antennas on for the propaganda. In 2016 (or I guess it was 2020?) the Russians really went after the black vote with their cyberwarfare.
“ As RAND Senior Behavioral Scientist Todd Helmus explained on Ep28 of RadPod:
“Russia, in 2016, 2018, 2020, they’re targeting both the left and the right. The interesting approach about what Russia does is they take people’s views and make them more extreme. They want conservatives to not just be conservatives - they want them to hate immigrants. They don’t want African Americans to just be suspicious in how the Western world engages with them, they want them to be isolationist and militaristic. They wanted to turn Hillary Clinton supporters into Bernie supporters. Whatever position they’re in, they want them further away. The whole goal of that - and they definitely supported Trump over Clinton, was clear - they want to make Americans hate each other.”
I can’t make it any more clear - we are being psyoped daily toward extremism, toward extreme hatred for one another. As I noted in my report on the Ionov indictment, which showed Russia paying both left and right groups for more than a decade to cause chaos and destabilization, to destroy us from within, there are no rear areas in an information war. It is cheap and those causing the harms are easily purchasable.”
https://www.bettedangerous.com/p/from-the-archives-daring-greatly?utm_source=%2Finbox&utm_medium=reader2
@Pat Russiano
You're not so bad yourself. You just said many of the things I've been thinking lately.
And, we need to remember now, especially, that cutting Biden down is supporting Trump...by default.
So very true! No one is perfect but Biden is a God-send if you want my opinion and I have no description what so ever of the Republic front runner or their policy or politics at this point in time.
I agree. He is slow and steady. His life experiences have made him strong in a way that he uses to lead this country. We have to respect his way of being as it has done VERY well for us. Many complain he is to slow, however we cannot overlook his many accomplishments and how great we are doing on so many levels.
👏+
"People want the circus to stop." - Adam Frisch, who ran against L. Boebert in 2022.
The GOP has become the Party of Lawless Disorder.
This is my conclusion, too. The GOP has become the tool of the super rich who want to be left alone to suck the country dry.
“Having ever regarded Government as their deadliest bane,” Lincoln said, “they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operations; and pray for nothing so much as its total annihilation.”
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Reagan
I've always been repulsed by Reagan's line, though it did apply in my mind to the many who meant well but couldn't grasp the real long term needs (or opportunities to improve), of the people they thought needed help.
I have huge respect for people like the honest agent county agricultural agents, and the land grant colleges inspired by Lincoln. They listened and observed the current and longer term trends to learn and help figure out how to actually help people.
My grandfather was one such honest agent as a dairyman, milk inspector and eventual Chief Milk Inspector for Massachusetts, inspecting dairies and milk processing plants that sold milk to Massachusetts. He worked with many small farmers (instead of being a "gotcha" inspector just looking for fines to gather revenue), and helped them cost effectively modernize without being tricked into buying far more expensive equipment poorly suited to the size of their operations.
He was a moderate Republican who worked with everyone, and passed on a bit of his view of the weaknesses of both parties we had to watch out for (back through the last century), in a pretty simple example. He said roughly:
"If a man is being washed down a river towards a waterfall and is 50 feet from the shore, a Democrat will throw him a 100 foot rope but let go of his end, a Republican would throw him a 25 foot rope and tell him to swimming the other 25 feet to get to the rope will do him good."
That was the old Republican party, the new one puts barbed wire on the shore.
JL, what I find ironic is the notion that Trump, DeSantis, Abbott (and Paxton), ETC. (Including the likes of Reagan) think/thought of government “as their deadliest bane,” yet strive to be The Government, in their “happiest vain.”
Reagamism was never about eliminating "government" per se, but rather radically changing who government is by, and who it it for; plutocracy over egalitarianism.
Quite a juxtaposition there, JL.
Stark
And the MAGAs are their laborers
NAHAs - Make America Hate Again
HAHAs: Hating Americans Hate Americans.
The party of animosity
And Frisch will very likely win the seat she is vacating.
He is running in the 3rd district again, while Boebert is switching to the more conservative 4th. Fortunately, she has a lot of competition on the GOP side
And sedition, threats, hate and cruelty.
Miselle, Lincoln wasn't "perfect" either. He wasn't progressive enough for some and was too progressive for others. Were there any perfect answers then? Are there now? How could Lincoln save the union while bringing freedom and full equality to African Americans, especially within the U.S. Constitution, which says states control their elections? IMO, Biden is a pretty darn good president!
Biden is a very good president, but underappreciated because some Americans would rather be entertained than governed.
Reality Tv entertainment has dumbed-down America better than plain old ignorance. Attracting people to bull Schitt, instead of things that would stimulate and not rot their brains. Still hate CBS for Survivor, and Andy Cohen for, well, more than a few idiotic endeavors.
Don't forget the dumbing down courtesy of a massive self-serving advertising industry. That is huge.
And makes me heave many times a day. Don't think the younger generation has a clue how noxious the current reality is to those who remember 15 second commercials.
If we think that’s bad, there are generations coming up that now carry that entertainment with them 24/7 and the content is far more mind numbing then ever. It’s an addiction. Everyone is doing it. 😳
I'm old, hope to not see the worst of it. I'm of the generation that loved Bill Moyers. He was politically savvy, loved literature, and oozed intelligence and common sense. Long gone, I fear.
Trained to jump at red meat. I find myself scanning for a news line that Trump has stumbled.
Or, better yet: dead!
Exactly
"of the people, by the people, for the people"
It's not enough to just change channels.
Also under appreciated because so many Americans don’t realize how pervasive and effective the propaganda is from Putin/Koch/GOP and rely on corporate funded media rather than seeking the truth tellers
There's not a lot of media that isn't corporate funded.
And it’s harder to find. Plenty of corporate media journalists that have good ethical standards, seems likes it’s the higher ups, (editors and producers and owners?) that produce the 💩?
Plenty of journalists doing their very best 🤩 https://guides.lib.virginia.edu/newspapers/investigative_news
Could you give examples? The purchase of The Baltimore Sun by the Sinclair Group seems to negate that. But I’d love to be wrong.
It's not just the entertainment they seek, but license and indulgence. And Trump is peddling those indulgences to shore up his dwindling fortunes.
Talia, I think you are correct because so many are hooked onto “reality tv” these days. Very sad state of affairs.
Television is a mess. Interesting to know the percentage who have never watched PBS.
Yes, and it’s difficult to get outside our echo chambers.
The author of Grant, Ron Chernow, who wrote of President Grant seeing the gradual destruction of Reconstruction, figures Lincoln would have been beset with the same intractable issues of the South's Non acceptance of racial equality, and the North's mixed attitudes pro and con.
Grant is next on my list. I’m almost through Jon Meacham’s book, And There Was Light, on Lincoln. Excellent!
You may find this less "inspiring" but very interesting from a human nature point of view and a reflection of the Civil War, Restoration and its failures, into the gilded age. Perhaps the most significant big ticket item was that the social rifts opened in the Civil War were never healed, well relatively never that is, cited but not explored in the biography! Much of the GOP political heartland is in fact, the Old South, with vast extensions into rural America, but hardly just that. Have i got that right?
Frank Loomer, along the same idea, take a look at two books by Colin Woodard: 1) Union:… and 2) American Nations. He makes the case that we have been, from first immigrations to now, a loose assembly of 11 different nations.
I need to read that one again, I remember being fascinated by it. Thanks for the reminder!
Ties right into Heather's specialty eh! Be interesting to read on of hers, more academic, but I'm sure worth the trouble.
You haven’t read any of hers? Not more academic if by that you mean dry! These are about parts of our history that are agonizingly racist, violent, and unfathomly tragic… I found them hard to get through because they were not dry/academic. They certainly explain why we are where we’re at now…
Lincoln wasn't "perfect"...but, I consider him to be a genius. From my childhood and on, he's always been an inspiration. ( I'm from Illinois.)
“Speaker of the House Seward.” My mistake. He was Secretary of State, not Speaker of the House, but he was a target in the assassination plot. Why? Was he in line to succeed VP Andrew Johnson?
Wow ! Incredibly well stated Miselle. "... stop tossing the good while seeking the perfect."
Miselle, I posted this here recently, but not sure all here have seen it, so am posting once again. Have sent it to friends & family….actually to just about everyone on my email contact list & asked that they spread it too: https://brianhassett.com/2023/12/why-i-love-joe-biden/
Marianne, a reader over on Ask E. Jean's substack wanted to thank Ms. Carroll for fighting for herself and all of us. She posted this quote said by Gloria Steinem:
“People now ask me if I'm passing the torch. I always explain that no, I'm keeping my torch, thank you very much. And I'm using it to light the torches of others.
Because the truth is that the old image of one person with a torch is part of the problem, not the solution. We each need a torch if we are to see where we're going. And together, we create so much more light.”
So, thank you, Barbara for lighting our torches so that we may spread this good news!
Awesome
We know she can't SPEND 83+million. I am sure it will go to a good cause.
TFFG's money. Ironic. Or, perfect justice. since he NEVER donates any of his filthy lucre.
There was discussion a few days ago that she should buy Trump Tower and turn it into a Crisis Center for Women!
There's an article in The NY Times referring to her being able to donate to a good cause.
"The amount vastly eclipsed the $5 million awarded to her by a jury last spring in a different trial against Mr. Trump. It could take years before she sees the money, as Mr. Trump has said he will appeal, but she is already considering how she might use the money once she obtains it.
“I’m not going to waste a cent of this,” she said. “We’re going to do something good with it.”
Figuring that out will take some time, she added. But she will splurge on one luxury, she said — for her Great Pyrenees and her pit bull. “I’m going to be able to buy some premium dog food now,” she said."
Me?: I don't have any millions but I buy premium dog and cat food.
That's a fantastic essay on why to love Joe Biden. Love the cartoons and inserts, especially the final point that abstaining from voting or choosing to protest is a vote for Trump. So true!!! Will share share share!
Thanks Barbara. We hear so much negativity about Biden. This is very refreshing.
I love the post script thing about Taylor Swift encouraging people to register to vote. 35,000 people in a day. Holy Cow!
Oh I like that Barb; Thank you, and concur.
Sent it to my extended family list -- 8 names
Let's trust successful, pro-social legislation and policy can take on MAGA's latest attempt to generate a "red wave".....
I missed this... thank you! Yes! Truth! “He’s smart, hard working, Gets Things Done, and is a kind human being.”
Thanks
Thank you!
It seems that Biden is showing his strength. He is joining Haley in attacking Trump, and from what I hear it is stressing Trump out. However unlike Haley he represents a clear difference. A constitutional leader, not a fascist lite! Does Haley join other Red States governors in supporting Abbott to ignore the Supreme Court? Dismissing an entire branch of government that has evolved to support Red State initiatives, how ever precedent overruling they are, however weakly they follow the constitution, or ignore it. According to this, she is one of those governors.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/26/texas-border-dispute-gop-states-support-letter/72364737007/
At the same time, I think it is fair and healthy not to see Biden as perfection, but as the excellent president he is. To be able to criticize that which did not work out, knowing that he went in with best of intentions, is to be able to be objective and not get sucked into a cult of Biden. I know that Biden is the best president in my lifetime, that does not mean I like all policy decisions. I also know that they are not made in a vacuum. I have seen Biden work against amazing resistance from the Republican members of government to get things done to keep our country running, and to try to support our allies. Ukraine is a striving democracy, and supporting them in their striving to remain sovereign as well as to keep their democracy are both served by supporting them. The more democracy we can bring about the better. I do not think at this point in time there is anyone better suited to do this in the USA than Biden. In Germany, the Constitutional Court just denied The Heimat Party (understood to be Nazis) funding from the tax base, because their platform defies the constitution. The big question now is can this be applied to the AfD, who actually has enough support to (20%?) to get tax funds to support their party. However, will they also be found to be too antidemocratic to receive funding as well? I hope so! I wish that people who donated to Trump would not be allowed to write it off on their taxes because they are funding a party and candidate that is working against the constitution. They are not even bothering to rewrite it, they are just making their own rules and laws and ignoring ours. Biden's greatest challenge remains here in the USA. I am 100% behind him taking it on.
As a long term executive holder, he has long since learned the best practice of surrounding himself "with good people" ie competent, suited for their assignments. Apart from being under appreciated for his efforts and successes, some of which he obtained with bipartisan means, the way a normal democracy should work, his administration has been saddled with the latest incarnation of a failed major political opposition, namely the GOP, albatrossed with MAGA under Trump.
Remember Obama had a helper on the side as his VP and Obama is now right there to consult. Making ads, etc. Biden does not operate in a void. He has trouble with speeches becuase the nuns changed him from left hand to right hand. That causes a stutter. Obama was also taught by the nuns ........in the Phillapines. He also was born left handed. The nuns did not change writing hand to right. (I was born without the spelling gene and will die not knowing how to spell. :-)
Me, too. And, I spent a year (1966) in Mensa. Spell check often helps out. But, sometimes it arrogantly decides it knows better than me what I should be typing.
Regards your parenthetical last line: Me too, sister, me too.
Miselle, "tossing the good while seeking the perfect" is very apt with respect to Biden's situation. What puzzles me mightily, though, is how anyone could "seek the perfect" in Trump!
In a voter interview the gentleman stated that perhaps a change to Nikki Haley would be helpful. This after being asked about Biden vs Trump. Scary how many share the same lack of understanding.
Tossing the good while seeking the perfect...great phrase
Miselle, here here. Spot on!!
MOST DEFINITELY!!! 100%
100% AGREEEEE!
Miselle, Your last sentence is something we all need to take to heart! It is time for all of us to “...stop tossing the good while seeking the perfect.”
Bravo! Did we learn nothing from the 2016 election?
Apparently not.
HCR even had her foot on another gas pedal today, complete with historical context of the new Biden for the Win Card Campaign she is promoting:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0LqH91uNrxoqcBAyTA3wJnCubn6nM7o1L2ALhf1DNy3MnbpDNWTxSKS52QmY3z7yxl&id=100044557238708&mibextid=cr9u03
With reference to another easy action for us by dropping Liberal Rocks:
https://liberalrocks.com/
Here is the link to the campaign:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555808736304&mibextid=PtKPJ9
Love that Liberal Rocks website, Ellie! Thanks!
Love liberal rocks. Sorry other link is on FB
FB kicked me out for good because I got hacked and didn't tell the age on my ID. Lost 15 years of photos: travel, the dog, dead friends, my adorable NYC apartment....Mean META!
I have to get FFB back just for Marketplace.
Mean self-righteous Meta. They had a hack attack and my name and phone number have been on the dark web for years. I have LifeLock, and they tell me it's still found there, probably in perpetuity.
OMG! Remember when all we had was books? Somehow I was using my brain for things that interested me and had enough "social contacts". There was non of the time wasting constant fixes that keeps me, for one, glued to pointless complicated internet issues.
I never gave my phone number; they kept asking. I thought: For what!?
Sign up with a different name.
They know your IP. Your computer has to be on a proxy 100% of the time. And, don't use your phone for FB.
Only have one phone number, tried a couple of times. Miss some cousins
Morning, Jeri! Is it that you are not "on" FB? I joined years ago. But now I only visit it to listen to HCR's chats; otherwise, I would "quit" FB.
I got banned for saying that chump used nazi messaging three years ago. That was violating "community standards."
Did they actually tell you what "community standards." you violated??...They never told me...I had to guess.
I use Whatsapp which is really great. Everyone here in Mexico uses it and my friends who live all over the planet. I considered investing in it: BUT, it's owned by META. I'd have to buy FB stocks. .... ICK!
I need to kiss your ring, Jeri!
Stop! Can you log back in with another email address?
You can subscribe to her chats on YouTube also.
I hope the Card Campaign gets a website. On principle, I refuse to create a FB account. Thank you for bringing both of these to our attention, Ellie.
There is an email address: CardCampaignBH@gmail.com
Thank you, Carol!
Thanks, Ellie, love the Liberal Rocks ! Perfect for my Trumper neighborhood.Although I will do some research and “ plant” them in more fertile, Independent soil.
Romantic gesture😂 by hubby to buy me a Biden / Harris sign.That will probably be a Spring planting. ❤️🤍💙
For those not on the Facebook platform. There's an email contact at the very bottom.
For years, folks here have asked for short, simple information about what is really happening in American politics to share with friends and family who aren’t paying close attention. It’s always been a great idea, but I just didn’t have the time to take it on.
Now, though, going into the 2024 election, one of this project’s key readers, Michele Rudenko, has stepped up. Her Biden for the Win campaign is designed to break down what is at stake in 2024 in cards that can be printed at home or at a copy center and either used as talking points or simply distributed where you think they will do some good.
When Michele came to me with this idea, I thought of how you all, along with organizations like Liberal Rocks, have been able to reach places that no official campaign ever could.
And that made me think of a project from 1936.
In that year, opponents of the New Deal were determined to make sure Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a flash in the pan, a one-term president whose actions would be erased and whose principles would be forgotten as the country returned to the ideology of the 1920s and government protection of business alone.
But women liked the FDR government’s regulation of business and provision of a basic social safety net, which had been advanced by people like Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet secretary.
So in summer 1936, women organized to produce what became known as “Rainbow Flyers”: one-page fact sheets printed on different colors of paper. Each would have “facts clearly stated [with] each flier carrying the important facts in a given field of government activity—as agriculture, business, labor, finance, etc.,” as the plans of the Women’s Division of the Democratic National Committee spelled out. “Just the facts and no comments,” as one woman said, “a sort of, if that’s what you want, vote for it.”
In her 1981 book Beyond Suffrage: Women in the New Deal, historian Susan Ware noted that these fliers made up 80% of all Democratic literature in 1936, as women and men distributed them across the country to make sure that folks who didn’t really understand what was happening in the country had access to factual information.
When FDR won reelection, one of the project’s organizers wrote to another: “In my humble opinion there is no one who did more to provide an intelligent basis of fact on which voters could make their decision in the campaign than you and your associates….”
So here we are in 2024, and what is old is new again.
You can follow and join the Biden for the Win card campaign project at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555808736304....
Or email Michele at cardcampaignbh@gmail.com.
Thanks, Ellie!
Thanks so much for this, Ellie! What an inspired campaign. I'm in!
Thanks for sharing this. I checked it out and I have to say that these messages are not going to resonate with Trump supporters. I would do a version that includes Biden’s action on the border. That’s a thing they care about but aren’t hearing or are misinformed on.
I’m not the creator, but I don’t believe the target is Trump supporters. They mentioned planting blue seeds. We have a huge percentage of voters in the middle and non-voters, all influence-able and with our persistent outreach, poised to tip the election to save democracy.
OMG I love these ideas! Sharing with my Blue Tennessee launch group.
Terrific! What gentle, easy ways to spread truth and hope. Thanks, Ellie; I’m sharing these sites and utilizing them!
To everyone I forwarded it to and there were many, I said simply “this is superb”, it rang with the clarity of a bell. 🙏
"Apples and Oranges''
Biden is a Golden Delicious and Trump is a blood-soaked rotten citrus. The choice is clear.
an insult to all citrus, but damn right he's rotten.
What is so effective about this is that one can relate not only to the symbolism ("as American as apple pie" versus the orange face paint), but to the taste and odor. I'm stealing!
blood-soaked rotten, and infested citrus
'Youth and the 2024 Election: Likely to Vote and Ready to Drive Action on Key Political Issues'
November 29, 2023
CIRCLE's (Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University) '...early poll of youth (ages 18-34) ahead of the 2024 presidential election highlights major trends in young people's political views and participation.'
'In the past decade, young people have risen to the forefront of civic and political life in the United States. They have led major movements for action on issues like gun violence, climate, and racial justice. They have voted at historic rates compared to youth in previous decades, and their choices on the ballot have influenced key elections.'
'In 2024, Gen Z youth alone will make up over 40 million potential voters—including 8 million youth who will have newly reached voting age since 2022—making up nearly one fifth of the American electorate. Together with the youngest Millennials, young people ages 18-34 are poised to be a potential force in the next presidential election.'
'But young people are also living through trying times in their personal lives, for our country, and around the world that make their continued civic participation far from guaranteed. The nation’s economy, while strong by some accounts, has nonetheless left many young people concerned about jobs, the cost of living, and their financial situation. A mental health crisis affects many young people’s ability and desire to vote and engage in their communities. And many are looking ahead (though not necessarily looking forward) to a potential presidential rematch in 2024 between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump—two candidates that have not often garnered young people’s approval and enthusiasm.'
'This initial analysis from our nationally representative poll of youth ages 18-34 reveals major trends about youth, including:'
'A majority say they’re very likely to vote in 2024, though groups like Black youth and youth without college experience, who are getting less information about the election and support to participate, are less likely to say they’ll cast a ballot.'
'Youth overall prefer a Democratic candidate by a double-digit margin, but nearly a third are undecided and some groups of youth favor a GOP nominee.'
'Issues like climate change and gun violence remain at the center of youth engagement with politics and elections, but the cost of living is, by a wide margin, young people’s top concern.
Read below for detailed data and analysis on these and other questions, and see the bottom of this page for methodology and other information about the poll.'
'A Majority of Youth Say They’ll Vote in 2024—But Less Sure Who to Vote For
Diverse Issue Priorities, Like Climate, Shape Youth Votes and Action'
'Information and Support, Key to Youth Engagement, Are Often Still Lacking'
'Young Nonvoters: Who They Are and How to Engage Them' (The Circle) See link for more information from this survey about the youth vote, US, in 2024.
https://circle.tufts.edu/2024-election-youth-poll
'About the Survey'
'The CIRCLE Pre-2024 Election Youth Survey was developed by CIRCLE at Tufts University, and the polling firm Ipsos collected the data from their nationally representative panel of respondents between October 25 and November 2, 2023. The study surveyed a total of 2,017 self-reported U.S. citizens ages 18 to 34 in the United States; unless otherwise mentioned, data are for all 18- to 34-year-olds in our sample. When data is reported by educational experience (college/no college) the sample used is youth ages 21-34 in order to account for young people who may pursue higher education later in life.'
TC, the other day I saw a license plate (in AZ) with TCLA on it and I immediately thought of you! :)
Interesting. One of these days I'm going to see if I can get TCINLA here.
Great observation, TC. She really does have her foot on the gas.
Thank you HCR and TC for keeping us true.
Not the only foot on the gas pedal. Nothing like being complicit in a genocide to drive the drunk driver into believing a speedy delivery of weapons of war to a racist oppressor is the proper play. Empire simps abound.
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/gaza-dispatch-afaf-al-najjar/
As iron sharpens iron.
Was just reading this. No doubt you have already seen it. https://www.spytalk.co/p/picture-this-a-compelling-new-photo?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Interesting - I once wrote a "dramedy"screenplay about Air America, "The Magic Bus." (Think Butch and Sundance in SEA riding a C-47 instead of horses) Was also privileged to be a friend of Erik Shilling, former Flying Tiger, former Air America pilot, who taught me how to barrel roll my Beech Bonanza.
❤️ Sounds like a great story 🤩 what awesome memories!
Lessons from Lincoln. History reminds us of so much if we just pay attention. Thank you Professor ⭐
This line is the one that spoke to me most: "A public practice of ignoring the law eventually broke down all the guardrails designed to protect individuals, while lawbreakers, going unpunished, became convinced they were entitled to act without restraint." We are witnessing this in spades right now, though here's hoping the E. Jean Carroll case is the start of an avalanche of judgments reversing the trend. Still, I wish the law/DOJ and the courts could work with more alacrity. I fear American democracy is running out of time.
Jude, have heart! New York DA starts Trump's criminal trial in 36 days! This is a strong case, the co-defendant who was less culpable (Michael Cohen) did jail time. Manhattan juries have not been real impressed with Trump these days! Yeah Georgia case is far off, Aileen 'Loose' Cannon will give Trump endless delays in Florida and despite best efforts of Jack Smith to get his case to trial, appeals are likely to delay the D.C. federal case to an unknowable date. BUT 'have no fear, Alvin Bragg is near, his determination is clear, Trump will go to jail for over a year'! https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial-stormy-daniels.html?unlocked_article_code=1.RE0.tCM7.-iuQz_raEOVH&smid=url-share
100Panthers, is it mean of me to be gleeful that TFFG will not have access to hairspray or bronzer in jail? Have no idea if his cult will respond “whoa, yuk!” to pics of him w/o his coiffure and tan slather…you know, just a regular jamoke behind bars….deflated.
Jail for Trump means no burgers, no french fries, no milk shakes, and no hookers. As this realization sinks in, watch his level of anxiety and hysteria skyrocket.
No hookers, no Sharpies, no power.
James Burnham, and no ketchup!
No endless supply of adderall. No social media. And maybe a work assignment?
lol ! Isn't it grand though to see 100Panthers upbeat enough to be inspired to 4 lines of rhyme ?
Hi Barbara, There are so many things to add to what you just said. But, I will be banned for life from this site. It's killing me. 🤭
Hmmm Barbara, good question. I'm thinking, given the constant surveillance and video, might be sort of 'charming' to let his followers watch him primp like a vain little teenage girl for a few hours and then just sit in his cell all day doing nothing but whining like a cat in heat...only to repeat the process the next day. Riker's Island, got my tan at a vacation spot in The Islands!
1000Panthers, I seem to recall a while ago another commenter posting something about a new reality show called the Prison Apprentice….with you know who starring. Well, I never watched the first one, but might consider peeking at an episode or two of the Prison Apprentice!
Oh glory!
Damn! My gasp at your comment made the coffee go down the wrong way! Thx for the chuckle!
DA - ALVIN L BRAGG is already writing a script for "Prison Apprentice", ... well, the opening scenes anyway.
Here is Alvin's 1st Draft:
Trump; "So have you heard of me Alvin?
Alvin: Yes.
Trump: "What did you hear Shane" ... 'er Alvin.
Alvin: "I heard You are a low-down Yankee LIAR"
Trump; "Eh, prove It!"
Hat tip to Jack Palance & Alan Ladd.
" ... Come back Shane".
Criminal proceedings may not be enough to stop him. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in prison.
Talia, do they sell Sharpies by the truckload? Can’t imagine him writing anything other than his signature or a tweet (X).
But plenty of smart people do his dirty work for him. It’s why he’s still in the news…
it doesn't have to have coherent logic or substance (Mein K sure as shine-ola didn't). the lunatic tools and cynical enablers would be the next to look out for.
er, WATCH out for, i should have said
Good point. The Georgia and 2 federal cases are trailing, as are investigations in other states, he should get swamped. Only if society loses its nerve and lets him off the hook as did Germany, Cuba etc. But those protagonists were much younger and healthier.
But Trump needs a ghostwriter.
He has more than a few, Stephen Miller at top of list.
Is Miller even human?
And Lincoln’s message? it’s up to all of us, together, to carry the day: For starters, vote & support grass roots organizations. There are so many ways.
"of the people, by the people, for the people", for real.
Thank you for the link to the New York Times story of January 25. As is usual nowadays, they are a day late and a dollar short on this story. When NY DA Alvin Bragg first filed the charges, he told America it was an election interference case. Clean and simple. Bragg could see the writing on the wall for shallow media, that they would defang it into a hush-money case about prostitution. He is not now "rebranding" the charges; he is reiterating the original framework for criminally charging Donald Trump. I find the New York Times insufferable in its intentional low-level coverage of Trump's many case. They continue to normalize Trump's heinous behavior.
Cancel your subscription like I did! I miss reading some of the columnists, still though I refuse to support thier practice.
I did 2 years ago. I see their free daily round-up.
100, thanks for the laugh of the day!
That paragraph stood out for me also.
Remarkable speech that still speaks to us today! Thank you for teaching us history through the speeches of our heroes!
It still galls be every time I think about the fact that, with little public comment, so far as I could tell, the Lincoln's Birthday holiday was tossed into the black hole of "President's Day.
Lincoln was not only key actor in American society's evolution toward greater awareness and justice, he was a particularly articulate "explainer" of what a just republic is all about. You can't adequately manage what you don't adequately understand, and Lincoln still provides a useful guide.
I remember when each "major" president got a day to celebrate. Then somebody decided the nation had to lump them all together into one day. Hated it, and still do.
Agreed, and good morning, Lynell.
I have a theory about Presidents Day: There was a long, long slog through the winter from New Years Day to Easter or Spring Break. The decision was made (while I was in college, so late 70's I believe) to have a Federal Holiday on the Monday between Feb 12th (Lincoln) and Feb 22nd (Washington).
My recollection is a bit different; when the movement to commemorate Dr. King gathered momentum, there was opposition to establishing another federal holiday, so the two February Presidential birthdays were consolidated, and Dr. King got a day that occasionally actually coincides with his birthday.
I remember it your way as well, Dave.
Dave, neither holiday was established without a lot of conflict. At the federal level, President's Day was established in 1971 and MLK day was established in 1983. The two things I know is that I had my first school holiday in Oregon in 1978 and that Virginia likes to call MLK day "Robert E. Lee" day.
Yes, that, too. I grew up down South, and we didn't even acknowledge Lincoln's birthday, for reasons now too obvious.
Feb 12, if memory serves
It does. February 12, 1809.
A big deal, even in NC when I was a pup
Indeed.
I'm reading "Fever in the Heartland", and amidst the horror of just how long we've been this way as a country, I recalled that even the terrible, reactionary Supreme Court they had back in the 20s eventually changed to the better court we had in the 70s, and it was very calming to remember that.
It feels quite often like we're going one step forward, two steps back, but perhaps we're really going two steps forward, one step back, and gradually making progress.
I sure hope so.
Rebecca Solnit expresses such themes in Hope in the Dark. There's more progress than the dominant groups want people to realize. "The arc of the moral universe..."
slow but sure as long as we do not despair and give up. Keep moving
Pat, as have posted here numerous times….the anthem to keep my juice from flagging is Jackson Browne’s Til I Go Down (and you can dance to it!): (ad may play first) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
We continue to make "progress" in a number of ways, but are running out of time in others. We have got to do a number of things differently.
"Fever in the Heartland" - great, horrifying book.
Haven't dared to read it, and I now regret putting "Hope in the Dark" on my Kindle where good books go to die. Just starting "True West", about the myths that gave rise to resistance to law and order.
Oh, I love my Kindle! Thanks a million for the other recs. True West sounds totally up my alley.
My paperback came yesterday, and the type is pretty small, so I may regret not ordering the Kindle version. But it has end notes and an index like good nonfiction used to.
You're talking about the book by Betsy Gaines, right? (This is reminding me of the Sam Shepard play, which I love!).
Karen, looks like there's a time algorithm to SCROTUS. Awful in the 20's, but came to life in the 50's under the Warren Court, and continued through the 70's. Hopefully, it will swing back before 2250...
And remind all that once upon a time the republican party claimed to be the party of Lincoln. Seems it’s not that Lincoln or it’s not this Republican Party.
No, the republican party was taken over by the Freedom party.
Free-dumb, don't you mean?
More accurately called the "Chaos Caucus."
Now, the Republican party has been destructed as the party of DJT. I wonder what the new Party of Lincoln will call itself? The Legions of Law and Lincoln...? I am sure there are many better ideas out there...
Every time Heather writes about Lincoln, I’m amazed at his profound insights, and how enormously relevant they still are!
Not to mention how young he was when he laid them out.
Exactly. I felt like I was only halfway through my puberty at that age... :/
Lincoln had a way of getting right to the point.
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”
- Thoreau
Yes he did JL; and as Bryan adequately postulates "Lincoln's deductive reasoning was already well developed.." , as was his ability to identify as opposed to comparing, empathy and emotional, cultural I.Q.
Thank you SLR Lucky Chix. I do not recall reading an Abraham Lincoln from his younger development years. Lincoln's deductive reasoning was already well developed, "gates of hell shall not prevail against" ... a "greater institution."
No wonder Lincoln found General Grant. Hat Tip to Paul Krugman -- something of a Grant historian.
From my friend Doug who moved to Mexico City when Trumpbgot elected in 2016:
“The part of the Bible I like best is when Jesus told his disciples to put razor wire in the river.”
I like that part too, Bill. And also the part where he said don't feed the poor, or help outsiders, or help those with disabilities. And of course he called for hypocrisy, greed, and loudly praying in the Temple.
You forgot the part about taking babies away from their parents. [ https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Will-Die-Sorrow-Immigration/dp/0306847280/ref=mp_s_a_1_1? ]
Well, there y' go. We see it every day now! and every night, thanks to Fox and cohorts. Praise be!
Yup, Love Gold and hate thy neighbor.
"Under his Eye"....
I often reflect on the movie Oh God with John Denver and George Burns. At one point George Burns , playing God, says to the Bible thumping, white shoe wearing, bad wigged evangelist, “Who told you to say that?”
Now that's funny Bill !
Who would Jesus shoot?
Gasp!
WWJS! Now there’s a thoughtful bumpersticker!… perhaps including an Armalite-15 silhouette next to the text?
Oh yes I do remember that verse from Guido 2:6.
This was a wonderful post commemorating a great speech that has real resonance today.
I just wish you could have included a reference to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, also January 27, and pointed out the similarities between the lawlessness and violence we experience today to that which led up to the Holocaust.
TCM just showed "Nuremburg", which followed the second part of "Shoah". None of the other channels have had anything concerning the Holocaust. Watching the story of the trial made me think of our justice system, in that it still has not brought the instigator of the insurrection to trial. The crimes in WWII were much more horrific, but there was little delay in bringing the perpetrators to justice. And as the saying goes, "justice delayed is justice denied." We are desperately in need of that justice.
James, dang, I wish I’d checked the schedule so I could DVR the programs. Checked the listings just now to see if there would be repeats, but no, appears not.
Thank you for remembering the Holocaust and its similarities to today’s violence and law-manipulation.
See movie "Origins"
Written & Directed by Ava DuVeray adapted from the book: 'CASTE: Origins of Our Discontents'
CASTE, by Isabel Wilkerson.
The sociopathic urge to dominate or eliminate others.
Ah, yes. The German industrialists and the old Prussian generals were so sure that they would keep Adolph from becoming too extreme. After all, there were laws.
And if you are rich, you can buy whatever you like, right?
That’s why the billionaires want Rump. Give him money, and he does what you want. Essentially, they could simply buy the rules they want to have….
Dutch Mike, and they like him because he's a useful idiot, easily manipulated in service of his ego.
Exactly; he will do everything for his hyperinflated ego...
Inflated to the point of pushing every other concern off the table.
Great analogy!
Remarkable speech that still speaks to us today! What a man!!
Pogroms in Russia, holocaust in Strasbourg in the 1300's (all Jews who survived were not permitted inside the city walls unless they were money lenders, and those folks had to leave before dark). Slaughter in the Round tower in England in the 1200's, slaughter on October 7 2023 in Israel....who can truly forget? Right wing "Christians"; Islamic jihadists; homeless and stateless people suffering their own personal holocaust and desperately trying to stay sane. Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget.
I watched Ken Burns series, the US and the Holocaust today, while we were painting cupboards. What struck me was how quickly humanity looses its compassion for those suffering. The forces in Government and parts of the public's resistance to helping Jews immigrate to America. A lot antisemitism then and now. Good Christians can be Nazis too. And here we are today.
Real Christians (those who work everyday to follow the teachings about love and forgiveness, fail, and wake the next morning and try again) cannot be Nazis; their goals are antithetical. Those who fig-leaf using the name of “Christian” can be a whole history book of nastiness. Crusader, Defender of the Faith, any of the groups that had to put down heretics, kill the sinners to save them, it goes on.
Some Christians appear loving and humble, and other who claim the title prove to be extremely arrogant and cruel. I Suspect that the latter strain comes from a warping by people in power, kings and the like who claim God picked them to act in God's stead. Malignant narcissism, avarice, and bullying, even torture and genocide, in place of "love thy neighbor".
Pharisees no longer pretending to be pious
I believe that whenever the over-arching message is that of evangelism rather than putting Jesus' teachings into practice, it will inevitably become an authoritarian cult.
Frank, couldn't have said it better. On a day that commemorates the Holocaust, we hear hardly a whisper in the press. To confront it would make us face the fact that minorities like the Jews have been scapegoated for millennia.
Netanyahu has done more to hurt Jewish people than many of the cretins in history.
Jeri, I always appreciate your comments on the letters we subscribe to, however, let me push back on your recent post. In order to evaluate an individual's time on earth, I believe one must not only look at his recent behavior but his entire biography. So there is no misunderstanding, let me first state that Netanyahu's recent leadership history is not in keeping with the aspirations and goals of the Israeli public or mine. He must go!
If you value the NYT, the Guardian and left wing progressive news outlets and main stream media, you are only getting one side of the story. Jewish outlets give a more nuanced Netanyahu history IMO i.e. J Post, Haaretz, Times of Israel. Here is is a summary of Netanyahu's climb to power and why a comparison with tRump's leadership is a travesty of justice.
Early Life: Netanyahu was born in 1949, He grew up in Israel, however as an adolescent he moved to the US, where his father was a history professor. Netanyahu studied at Harvard and MIT. Deeply affected by his elder brother's death serving as commander of the Entebbe operation which freed hostages in France, Netanyahu organized two international conferences that sought to combat terrorism. In 1984 he was appointed Israel's UN ambassador around the age of 34. A forceful debater and articulate speaker helped. Fast forward to 1996, he became the youngest prime Minister to ever hold the office in Israel.. During the Obama administration. bad chemistry existed between them. Slights of hand can play an important role in politics. Obama visited Cairo without any plans to visit Israel. Next, Obama insisted that Israeli residents were settlers in East Jerusalem and there should be no further incursion of Israeli citizens into East Jerusalem. Israel considers the whole city of Jerusalem as their capital. That demand is analogous in Israeli opinion to asking Washington, D.C. to share their capital with Russia.vtRump supported Israel's belief the Jerusalem was Israel's capital. Of course, the Israeli public was ecstatic over his decision. Wouldn't we be? Israel was also being attacked from the Golan Heights for decades. tRump gave Israel control of the Golan Heights. Don't blame Israel for celebrating these victories. Blame the republican congress. In 2011, Netanyahu addressed congress stating that he supported a Palestinian state, but insisted on the negotiations be held between the Palestinian Authority who were in control of the area and Israel. He knew full well the UN would put their thumb on the scale. By 2015, Netanyahu gave up on a two state solution and declared Palestine would never become a state under his watch. This is why Netanyahu made that decision. He and Israel experienced 7 major wars and 8 operations at that tim 2015, in their effort to fend off their Arab neighbors' aggression. They lost thousands of Israelis. During the 1948-War of Independence-Israel lost 6000 people in a country the size of Conn. United Nations calls for a cease fire, but Arab neighbors refused to comply. Since 2015, Israel faced three more operations and two major wars with Hamas, culminating on 10/7/2023. Four US Presidents tried to negotiate a two state solution without success. Under the Clinton administration, Arafat got 99% of what he wanted and refused. It is time for people of good will to see that Iran is calling the shots and no matter how much territory Israel has given up since the 1917 promise of the Balfour Declaration and the 1948 partition plan which left Israel with 20% and Jordan with 80% of Palestinian land, the Arabs have not been satisfied. That's because their major goal is to eliminate the state of Israel. Those are not idle words. The 10/7 attack is a sample of the lengths these bottom feeders are willing to go to achieve their ends, however, as I said before you wouldn't know that if you only watch the prevailing wisdom that has always prevailed when Jews are singled out. They have always been a useful scapegoat for millennia.
Thank you. I knew most of this. Even back to when Vanessa Redgrave was the only one I heard speak out for Palestinians. Of course, Arafat was such a worm that most, including me, were disgusted by his shenanigans. The reason I am disgusted with Netanyahu is because of his corruption and being one of the evil twins with trump. The ridiculous invasion of the settlements (not East Jerusalem) was a message that the Palestinians would be screwed, big time. For years I have been waiting for the big explosion. And a whopper it was...
The difference in tRump's and Netanyahu's corruption is only defined by night and day. I won't go into the Netanyahu corruption, however, I will say he never tried to overthrow his gov't. Overhauling the judiciary to keep him out of jail does not tell the whole story. He has a history of defending Israel with his military service. He volunteered to go back to Israel and serve in the IDF, where he was wounded. On the other hand, tRump has a history of avoiding the draft. His father must have paid millions to keep him safe. Netanyhu's corruption history didn't span most of his life. He was a philanderer and spent more than he could afford, whereas tRump was a criminal committing fraud and putting people out of business wherever he did business. Netanyahu was a man of his word in international negotiations. tRump is a pathological liar. tRump committed treason, Netanyahu never did. No, Jeri, he is not tRump's twin. He may wind up in jail or lose the Prime Minister's office,
but the Judiciary will remain in tact and Jewish values will prevail. We could only wish for that in this country.
The beauty of a good forum like this one is the room it makes to extend the discussion. Lincoln relied on the divine underpinnings of law to call out deadly civic prejudice. He saw clearly that the bonds of civic reciprocity (liberty and justice for all) is our essential civic covenant. From Trump to Hitler is no longer speculative - the law must hold and it’s our collective duty to see that it does. Voting and exhorting others to vote is our sacred civic duty.
Absolutely agreed!
Be sure to see new release movie "Origins"
You did it for her Ron
Mentioning Holocaust Remembrance Day might have been a bridge too far, even for
Heather. Although, teachable moment maybe?
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/commemorating-a-past-holocaust-while
“A re-election campaign year for a Democrat president coinciding with an active genocide backed by that same president is exposing the true face of the Democratic Party clearer than anything I can remember.
Biden is preparing to send Israel 50 child murder jets and 12 child murder helicopters, but oh no no we mustn’t focus on this too much because it’s an election year and Trump is a very bad person.
❖
I understand the logic of lesser-evil voting. I just don’t understand the logic of designating a president who backs a literal genocide and engages in nuclear brinkmanship a “lesser evil”.
❖
A political establishment which tells you you have to choose between two presidential candidates who both want to help Israel murder children by the thousands is a political establishment which must not be permitted to exist.”
And today the members of the political party that calls itself “The Party of Lincoln” are the epitome of those that Lincoln feared.
The GQP is run by a gang of Christian White Nationalists Billionaires. They have for worked for decades and spent billions to bring this country to its knees. They have created a 'Hate Thy Neighbor' platform. Instead of us and MSM pointing the finger at them, they have us pointing at each other. All the while the only finger they are pointing at us is their middle finger. They are the danger to democracy. They are the ones trying to break us. They thrive on hate, racism, misogyny and all the rest of it. They own the Supreme Court. They bought it all. They will dismantle this country piece by piece. Why in the fuck are they not being called out? Why do we have to wait for ProPublica to call them out. We got big trouble. Even with Trump out. They will replace him with someone worse. They are the enemy within our own country. Lincoln was right.
Yes. Thank you Lisa59!
The next puppet of those bigoted oligarchs will be smoother and sneakier. Someone like MAGA Mike Johnson. Calm demeanor as he proclaims a national religion. Mellow voice as he disables environmental protections. Presenting a perfectly reasonable aura while destroying democracy and kneecapping everyone but white male haters.
The rich now rue the day they backed a clumsy idiot. They have kept their money because they are clever. We need to identify them and shine a light on their evil.
They need to be taxed into oblivion. They need to be publicized as a rogues gallery in the Post Office. "Wanted: For Murdering America".
Mike Johnson's voice is about control. He is a control freak. He uses that tone to make one lean in to hear him. His dedication to controlling himself is purposeful. It covers for his insecurities.
You gave words to how I've been thinking and feeling. Thanks!
Spot on, Lisa!
Well said, truth be told
Project 2025 is the guide for autocracy. One man will run the show and that man is Agent Orange. The whole Project is designed for him. The entire government will be run by MAGAQ people only. Education will be supplied by them online. Martial law will be part of our everyday lives. Steve Bannon will be in charge that. Chuck Grassley thinks hes going to be Attorney General and promises 3 weeks of hell. I have been bringing this up every where I go. No one has heard of it. Heavy sigh.
Our MSM seems scared to mention the reality of today. Lincoln was not scared to speak of it in his time. Where are our truth tellers...
I hear you, Jeri. Where are they? I contacted the NYT about that. I got a defensive pissy response. I backed it up with an article from the Columbia Journalism Review, The Warped Front Pages. It was posted by someone here. I can't remember their name to give them credit for it.
Lisa, you might be interested in what the Media and Democracy Project is doing: https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/
Grassley?? He may not live long enough!
Right? I laughed at that.
And the thoughts, words and deeds of so many preachers who dare to call themselves "Christ-ian" are the epitome of all that he was put to death for denouncing.
Let us get back to basics as human beings and hold to that.
The party of Lincoln is the Republic of the United States of America. He’s one of our prophets.
A republic is just what they don't want. The Party of Trump" are truly "Anti-republicans". They've even switched sides on the Civil War.
And now, as throughout the arc of history, follow the money.
I recall hearing "Party of Lincoln" rhetoric from the "GOP" back in the 1950's but they seem to have backed off it, fearing, I suspect, a comparison. Trump seemed astonished to "discover" the Lincoln was a Republican. Lincolns celebrity endues, but little of his political philosophy, at least in mainstream buzz. The right now dominates the media. Pitchman Reagan assuredthe public that with money you get to do whatever you want, and with the rich in charge, we all would be rich. Where is any historical precedent for that bit of illogic.
Exactly. Reaganomics “trickle down economics” model was and is a blatant failure, and if the general populace were educated enough (ha! Republicans do not want THAT!) to research any and all of the above they would not continue to vote for the loudest mouth against their own best interests. And yet....here we are, the mouth louder and more vile and way more appealing to them than facts.
"Trickle down economics" AKA "Neo-feudalism".
A reverse image.
This—this is so key:
“Lincoln was quick to clarify that he was not saying all laws were good. Indeed, he said, bad laws should be challenged and repealed. But the underlying structure of the rule of law, based in the Constitution, could not be abandoned without losing democracy.”
What we should say, is that everyone should be treated equally under the law, or that no one should get to choose which laws do or don’t apply to them—rather than say ‘no one is above the law.’
Why? Because the law is not blameless—consider all the laws being passed to take away women’s reproductive freedoms, to suppress our votes, to ban books, or the laws that created segregation, or that upheld slavery.
The law itself, is not sacrosanct; it is OUR individual rights and freedoms that are...
Words matter when it comes to ensuring justice is fair...and not the plaything of the rich and powerful.
Natalie, your comment here sent my brain down a rabbit hole. Even constitutional amendments are not sacrosanct. I note that since the first 10 amendments (what we know of as the "Bill of Rights") there have been some that fix the constitution (13: outlawing slavery, 15: right of male citizens to vote, 17: popular election of senators, 19: right of women to vote, 20: changing the time line of presidential terms, 22: presidential term limits and changing the line of presidential secession, 25: presidential vacancy, and 26: reduction in age limit for voting) but only one repealed an amendment (the 21st, which repealed the 18th, prohibition).
It seems to me that the one amendment which attempted to put "morality" forward and was repealed somewhat later (1919-1933).
Thanks for the exercise this morning.
Agreed! The issue is that we too often imbue concepts and constructs with agency/personhood—the disastrous case of Citizens United is the poster child for this, where SCOTUS made independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations unlimited, giving corporations not only the same right of free speech as individuals—but equating dollars to speech…
But the issue is much broader—consider the idea of a corporation and its ascribed rights, or the economy and its anthropomorphized attributes.
All Animals are guaranteed Free Speech,, but not the means to Pay for it.
The Renaissance and Enlightenment movements pushed back on the notion that everything worth knowing was already known, and humans were meant to strictly conform to those traditions. Fortunately for us, progressive ideas made it into our fondling charter, and indeed defined it; "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union..."; not "perfect" but "more perfect", which is radical.
A living document, explicitly designed to be enacted and improved by the deliberations of generations to come. A document not legitimized by the special authority of it's authors but by the aggregated societal recognition of the demonstrated soundness of the principles they put together.
Excellent point. Unjust laws are are a common tool of for enforcing hierarchy and a pillar of caste.
Thank you. Well said.
" It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, continuously rule, and that public opinion, expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters."
- Churchill, et al
Since you're sharing quotes, here's my favorite:
"We are living through a revolt against the future. The future will prevail."
~ Anand Giridharadas
This line:
"Lincoln reminded his audience that the torch of American democracy had been passed to them."
Made me think of this line:
"We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world." - John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address
And therefore, "Ask not what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country"
Timely, yet again
Daniel, and is how I see the Biden/Harris admin w/ the delegating important positions to those well-versed and capable….great team work. Love that Joe in NO way implied that he “alone can fix it”. Naw, he’s WAY smarter than to believe that!
What would the man who spoke these words think of his successor supporting ethnic cleansing and the indiscriminate murder of thousands of civilians with gifts of American arms?
Not too highly, I would imagine
Thank you for this memory, this inspiration, today, Mark!
What an amazingly prophetic speech; Lincoln was a man for his time. It sometimes feels as though life events are on a loop, and what has happened in the past is doomed to happen again.
Now, in this seemingly circular cyclical replaying of human psychological angst, what we can perhaps not rely on absolutely but reasonably expect to bring forth, is also the human desire of conscience to repair our body politic. Bad ugly outer showings of human depravity illustrate the danger of not acknowledging the existence of our shadows - our range of possible selves - and our need to willingly shape and embrace our common good through the shared practices of social good, not public displays of our worst fears and over extended egos.
While common sense seems to get lost in the media cloud of moneymaking engines feeding on thrill, conflict, gossip and lying (not watching that garbage anymore) the greater pull of sensible action has more than an equal chance of regaining balance. There will always be such cycles - ones that imitate Nature herself in all her splendid life of changes - and we are her creatures, humanimals with larger brains, with thinking and reasoning capabilities.
The questions are always with us. A question is not an answer; it is a beginning. Answers are created by our actions; prayers are personal reminders of even our ability to pray. When we pray we are really speaking with the greater good within us, no matter the imagined source, eternal mysteries.
Keep on keeping on.
We are capable of more.
Charming notion: "that the law must prevail over individual passions."
The orange-make-up-caked, diaper-fouled fat guy has thrown the gauntlet down on that one.
He doesn't recognize law, or the courts, or even the institution of Congress, where he refuses to let his spineless Republican cultists there do anything constructive in return for their paychecks.
He commands MAGA Mike not to do anything constructive with Dems on the southern border. MAGA Mike caves.
So America has now gone back to the 1830s with the befouled, rapist, insurrectionist.
There was a young Lincoln then. We've many good young adults now, too.
Can they cohere? Can they match the spawners of chaos, the lone wolves with their racism and AR-15s, the avid followers of hate sites engineered by the most cynical of social media billionaires?
Many people admire the forces of destruction. (I just watched Oppenheimer).
Yes, Annie -- those "forces of destruction."
Such as the standardized testing which drove humanities from out of our schools -- to replace them with the numbers, abstracted hierarchies, categories, group-think catered to by our billionaires and vulgarly commercial others also humanities dead.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Agree. That's why I mentioned his age, 28, in my first post today.
They are emerging. And they appear to be crossing lines, having seen the destruction wrought by a failed party (cult) that has allowed itself to be controlled by a hideous freak with an orange face. Even in this supposedly red state with an egomaniac trying to start another Civil War, there are young people running for office who exemplify the "goodness" that we so desperately need in this country. Two I know of have come from the ranks of education - they are teachers. One is a lifelong Republican with Democratic values - her entire "platform" reads like a Democratic platform. The other is the spouse of a veteran. I hope that my own personal experience is being repeated around the country so we can cleanse the likes of MTG and her ilk from Congress.
I suspect that the mood of the country could be elevated about 100 degrees if more people were confident that those who broke the law would be punished by the law, irrespective of race, creed, or wealth.
and the religionists who boost TFG are programmed to be jerked around by the wretched rhetoric of "only answer to God"
“But his recognition, in a time of religious fervor and moral crusades, that the law must prevail over individual passions reverberates far beyond the specific crises of the 1830s.”
It is interesting that the use of religion has been so prevalent in tearing down societies. Authoritarians and anarchists often preach that there is a higher law than those that people make. That is their excuse to break laws and further their self-interest. Trump, in his crazy way, appeals to the evangelicals. The Speaker of the House is smug as he allows people to die, but tells us he is a modern Moses. The excuse for the tragic behavior on both sides of the war in Israel is linked to religion, when it is clear it is about politics, territory and power. It has always been that every religion prays for peace and then the people go and slaughter those who pray to a different god. Following laws demands that people have a greater respect and concern for other people, and that the judgment of god is reserved for the next world.
All monotheistic religions end up in hierarchy. Violence against the outsider groups is a common tool to enforce the hierarchy. Religious people are more likely to seek their comfort in that hierarchy even when they see the violence. Perpetuating that violence even makes some feel holier.
They also usually put women at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Of course they do. If God is male, then women can never be "in the image of God.". They love to say that "man was made in the image of God." It is the other way around...humans invariably invent god(s) in the image of themselves.
Do polytheistic religions eschew war and violence?
No, even Buddhism has a history of power, violence and war. As much as I like its tenets, the history of Japan is rife with conflicts and violent uprisings in which Buddhism played a role. But, honestly, to make the discussion clearer, one should differentiate between the religion itself and religious _institutions_. Latter are less concerned with the religion itself, imho, and more concerned with power - and that almost always leads to conflict and war. I hold this to be true fir Buddhism, but also for Christianity: the Crusades were politically motivated, and not intrinsically religious.
If only it were possible to separate a religion and its institution. But since both are created by humans, it cannot be done. This is why we require other institutions to check and balance churches and why we must keep religion out of government, which is the only institution that can do the job. Jefferson wanted to protect government from the church. Madison wanted to protect the Church from the Government.
You cannot separate them entirely, indeed. But it irks me when, for instance, people start shouting "religion should be banned, it only creates wars". Well, it doesn't, it just a vehicle or an excuse. People will start wars over something else then, be it skin colour, type of shoes they wear or the soccer club they are fan of... Wars are fought over land, money, or power - nothing else. Keeping religion out of politics is absolutely no guarantee against war or power struggles, it would be better to keep money out of politics then, I say...
thank you for that clarity — I can rarely articulate what bugs me about the ways religions are framed as entities, rhetorically warped for identity politics, and/or simplified as "root causes".
Nope, they are also violent at times, but were a little more egalitarian with it. If you have a pantheon of gods representing all different interests to pray to, you don't develop rigid, unescapable hierarchies. Think of the petty pantheon of gods of Greek and Roman mythology. Ultimately, though, monotheism is cheaper. One God requires fewer offerings, and it offers no possible competition to the top ranks, regardless of who that God represents.
Rather than saying "all monotheistic religions end up in hierarchy", I would say, "all proselytizing religions end up in hierarchy." If a religion cannot admit that theirs is not the only true religion, then it inevitably ends up as authoritarian.
A religion that does not claim to be the only true religion will soon lose all its adherents.
Religion is mostly humans creating a God they can appeal to for
1. Relief from fear or doubt (it's God's plan)
2. Community of like minded people (a church community can be very welcoming and also discriminatory against unbelievers)
3. Power over their communities of other people, (imposing religious laws like Dobbs, Sharia, etc)
4. Justification for their behaviors (used to justify slavery, female subjugation, holy wars).
In this way, humans are creating God in their own likeness, not "man was created in His image." In matriarchies, there was the Goddess. In Patriarchies it's the omnipotent Father. Both versions necessarily exclude the opposite sex from ever being "in the image of God".
George Fox and the early Quakers rejected the idea of creeds and when asked to swear on the Bible said, "The truth is more holy than the book to me". Quakers, Unitarian Universalists, and other non-creedal traditions have been going strong for hundreds of years. I think you speak from preconceived opinion rather than from evidence.
The existence of a few exceptions does not invalidate the preponderance of evidence.
In 2017, there were an estimated 377,557 adult Quakers, 49% of them in Africa, and a measley 75,000 American Quakers in 2018, barely more than the 55,000 existing in America in 1700, 320 years ago. Clearly, they have failed to attract many adherents to their noble, creedless practices.
My opinion is based on the bulk of evidence, not the few exceptions. Your claim of the exception is akin to answering "all lives matter" to the Black Lives Matter movement, in that you claim the exception over the rule.
Now that is nasty and insulting to someone you don't know.
EDIT: On reflection, I over reacted to the second sentence of the last paragraph, taking personal offense to "Your claim of the exception is akin to answering "all lives matter" to the Black Lives Matter movement, in that you claim the exception over the rule."
I apologize.
The same goes for monophilosophic science…
Most excellent point, OAITW!! Beautifully put
God is a metaphor.
Please allow me to share my perspective.
Whatever we consider to be the Divine can never be more than our own limited perception of the Divine - we are like the blind people trying to define the elephant by describing the part of the elephant's body they are touching.
Every person's "knowledge" of the Divine is based on the metaphors they are most amenable to by personal experience.
Any religion that requires you to surrender your metaphors to their official metaphor thusly requires you to commit your life to idolatry: The abandonment of your personal experience in favor of someone else's declared experience.
All deities commomly proposed by humans are metaphors, usually for human beings. If you want God to be real, you have to start with reality. Spinoza explained it all. He saw that there is no religion and no theocracy associated with God. And that solves a lot of problems.
Yes. But for what?
What ever we want.
You are really referring to our condition today where the GOP wants the complete and total destruction of Democracy. Lincolns speech was 23 years from the start of the Civil war and our issues today have a longer timeline starting with Regan. We are approaching our civil war. Thanks Heather!
Starting with including the right to own slaves in the Constitution as well as the principle of representing land rather than people with the apportionment of the Senate and Electoral College.
The more I learn about Reagan! The B-grade actor. We used to look at Reagan from our safe distance, and mock him. Was he perhaps the useful idiot?
The last Republican worthy of the Oval Office was Dwight David Eisenhower.
James, I totally agree. I had issues with some of his policies/decisions, but he was a decent man who called out the deep flaws that eventually tripped us up.
Yes. Worthy of the office, but not the best option in his elections. Stevenson was a much better political thinker and an able administrator. Probably have to go back to Teddy R to find a really competent Republican president, not that he didn’t have hus problems, but his problems were endemic in the electorate at that time.
Anne-Louise, I have posted here before info on the evolution (devolution?) of Reagan. He was Gov of my state, CA, for two terms and I watched his admin gut education, healthcare, mental healthcare, and much more….was appalled when he was elected POTUS TWICE!!! And, sadly look at what his legacy wrought. Anyway, here is an interesting piece: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/01/ronald-reagans-conservative-conversion-as-spokesman-for-general-electric-during-the-1950s.html
Thanks Barbara for posting that. Broke ass actor looking for work. He was the Republicans tool for their agenda.
Have read it. Gosh.
Oh, hell ya he was. He read his White House scripts daily. He never had an original thought. He just collected his check. Nancy made sure that.
Had a good speech writer, Peggy Noonan. Wonder who she is writing for today…
https://www.wsj.com/news/author/peggy-noonan
Should have known, thank you. Bet she loves the schitt show of today, although not of her caliber, except for maybe Frank Luntz
Anne-Louise Luccarini, yes Reagan was a useful idiot, and little Bush, and 45 too.
And the world watched it happen.
Anne-Louise Luccarini, yes true, but many people have awakened to this truth and that gives me hope. Although, in response many have pushed further into unwakefulness. Our job is to increase the former and pull them into the vortex of wise action.
Out of the vortex which lured them, and is sucking them under.
Both Reagan and Nixon committed crimes endangering national security to keep crises going during their elections.
Thanks HCR for another illuminating moment in history that bears crucially on today. Again, thanks. We need to hear this and hear it again. Lincoln was amazing in his perceptions and in his ability to frame words for the moment that reach far beyond that moment.
Thank you, Heather. I think many Americans forget that the American democracy did not emerge fully-fledged from the founders: they knew that they were creating something fragile that would need nurturing and careful tending to keep it viable. And Lincoln recognized the ways in which we were most vulnerable, then and in the future. His speech is a good reminder of the responsibility we all have to keep democracy safe. His was not merely a warning, but a heads up that if we did not, we would be in danger. A danger that we could avert, if we are willing to recognize when the signs appear and act to prevent those signs from growing into full-fledged threats to our evolving democracy
We have been on the edge several times, and are now. It is not an inevitability that the loop repeats, as some seem to think. Lincoln wasn't being prescient, though it may appear that way at first glance. He was being realistic and pragmatic, and he issued a warning against something that he lived not only to see, but to live through and die for. That doesn't mean it is something that is inevitably going to happen again. The danger may arise, but we can stop it if we recognize it and address it before it damages our nation the way the Civil War did.
I think that is what is happening now: As a nation, we held onto our institutions, and while the process of protecting them is still in process, the point is that the process is happening, day by day, hearing by hearing, election by election. Even postcard by postcard, at the most basic level, urging people to vote to retain our democracy.
It is a difficult and challenging and sometimes frightening process, but we are doing what we need to do, and we are succeeding. We will get our democracy back on sound footing. And, having done that, we will have fulfilled Lincoln's gift to us of reminding us of what is at stake.
Very lovely piece, Annie
Well said, and beautifully articulated, Annie. Thank you for these words.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙏
Love the history lesson. "Letters" has become not only a valuable view point on the news of the day but a important reminder that those who don't study history and learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. How ironic that a twenty-nine year old running for his third term as a Illinois State Representative and would preside over the greatest tragedy in American history, could so clearly speak to the issues of today. Great letter. Thank-you. WJB
William, posts like this are the "meat" of LFAA. They are so valuable for a variety of reasons. When the Professor posts about current events, she has said many times that her mission is to document, for future historians, what an historian sees of today's events from their perspective.
I like to think of it as auditing a graduate level American History class, and engaging in the "group discussions" is an education in and of itself!
Lincoln was wise beyond his fellow countrymen. It’s still so sad that the nation lost him when it did, far too early.
We haven’t lost him.